


It's Only A Game

by LunarSinner



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Aged Up, Alternate Universe - Canon, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bullying, Dating, Developing Relationship, F/M, Happy Ending, High School, MMORPGs, Relationship(s), Slow Burn, Smoking, Video & Computer Games
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-23
Updated: 2014-06-26
Packaged: 2018-01-16 19:23:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 51,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1359025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LunarSinner/pseuds/LunarSinner
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the break up with Joffrey, the whole school seemed to turn their back on Sansa. People who she thought were her true friends, now simply ignored her or hated her. She sat alone at lunch, people tripped her in the hallways, she felt like she had no one besides her sister and her group of friends.</p><p>Arya, Gendry, and Hotpie talk Sansa into trying this MMORPG video game they've been addicted to, wanting Sansa to do something more then just sulk around in her room by herself. But what they don't let her know, is that Joffrey's paid bodyguard also plays the game with them. The same man who is in most of her classes and her lunch period.</p><p>Sansa decides to give the video game a try, and soon finds out who TheHound777, who is always helping her out in the game, really is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Sketchpads

**Author's Note:**

> I had a dream about this last night, and it was really odd. So I decided to put it into words and share with you guys! Yay! 
> 
> Everyone is in high school! Sandor and Sansa are about a year apart, but both are in their junior year, while Arya, Hotpie and Gendry are in their sophomore year. 
> 
> Just a heads up, Sansa does smoke in this story. With all the bullying that goes on she needs an outlet somehow. 
> 
> If any of you guys have any questions about the game, or if anything seems unclear let me know so I can explain things better in the next chapter or in a response.
> 
> I based the video game that everyone plays off of DCUO (DC Universe Online), it's a fantastic game in my opinion ^_^
> 
> Also, not every chapter will be as long as the first one..I just needed to explain everything at the beginning, so I can get straight into everyone playing the game in the next chapter.

Sansa sat by herself again at lunch, she had a whole table to herself. Everyone in the cafe ignored her, wouldn't even give her a second glance.

Who could blame them? She had broken up with the popular and all loving Joffrey three weeks ago. Things had become violent between the two of them, he would hit her, beat her, spit on her and call her names. She couldn't take it anymore, she started to smoke cigarettes thinking they would help.

But nothing ever helped the pain that Joffrey caused her.

Her friends all stood by her, saw what her boyfriend was doing to her. They all encouraged her to break up with him. She found strength in their kind words, but only when she finally broke up with him her friends started to ignore her. Her best friend Margaery even started to date Joffrey, even though she knew what that monster was capable of.

Rumors had spread that she had used Joffrey to gain popularity, or used him for his family's money. Which she knew it was utter bullshit since she had her own money from her own part time job at a local shelter, let alone her family was wealthy. 

She let out a soft sigh, trying to focus on her Algebra Two textbook. She had a test this Friday and she needed to pass it, math wasn't her strong point. She secretly wished to herself that her sister, Arya, shared the same lunch period as her. 

Arya and her group of friends were the only ones in the school who knew the truth and didn't believe the lies that Joffrey spread. They looked out for her, the only good thing about her not having the same lunch period as Arya was the fact that Joffrey was in the same one as Arya.

Sansa did not even want to look at Joffrey, she had let her parent's know what was going on between the two of them when Arya had told Ned about Sansa's bruises.

They didn't know about her smoking though, and she planned to keep it that way.

But Ned had called the school, and made sure she had her classes she shared with Joffrey were changed. It had embarrassed her at first, but she had slowly felt better about the changes, Not seeing Joffrey on a daily basis had made her feel safe. Well, for the most part. Whenever the bell rang and students tried getting to their next class, people would purposely knock into Sansa, either making her fall or stumble, her books and papers flying onto the ground as students kicked them away from her. Some students even stomped on her hands while she tried picking up her stuff.

Sansa sighed as she closed her text book, she had only three more classes until the day ended. Her last class she had was gym, and she had that with Arya and her boyfriend Gendry.

The sisters never really got along while they were growing up, but as Arya noticed what was going on with Sansa and noticed how she was treated by the student body, she became protective over her older sister.

As her sister became over protective, Sansa became colder. She would smile a lot less and frown a lot more. She had tried to fake her happiness, but she found it extremely tiring. She didn't believe in love as much as she used to, and she couldn't find it in herself to trust others.

She was always told by others during middle school that the high school years were supposed to be the best time of your life. But Sansa learn quickly that was a lie, a delusion. High school was hell, and as soon as she graduated, she would get the hell out of this town. She never dreamed in a million years that she would end up in her junior year with everyone hating her, and without having any friends.

She had Art, Chorus, and Theater in the morning, then lunch, then Algebra Two and English. The last of all she had Gym.

In Art no one would talk to her, she would just draw or paint and listen to her music. 

In Chorus the girls sneered at her, and kept their distance. She would sing but felt that her voice was drowned out by the others.

Theater she had to constantly do monologues for projects because no one would want to pair up with her. And when she would stand up on stand to perform, she was usually booed until the teacher snapped at the students.

Lunch she would grab her food quickly, sometimes a student would purposely knock into her tray and spill her food on her outfit or onto the floor, leaving her with nothing to eat or drink. She ate less and less lately and buried herself into her textbooks to ignore glares.

In Algebra she sat in the back of the class and did her work in silence, same with English.

In gym she would follow Arya and her friends around, try to join in with whatever sport they decided to do that day. She wasn't very good at sports, and with her not eating as much she had less and less energy. But at least she wasn't silent, she talked and even laughed at jokes Hot Pie would tell.

And then once she got home, she would do her chores or help cook dinner and then lock herself in her room listening to music or doing homework until she fell asleep. Her family had become worried about her and tried to comfort her. They would have movie nights on Fridays or picnics on Saturdays. It would cheer her up and help her escape from the hell she knew at school. She didn't have to fake her happiness at home, that was her sanctuary.

She was used to the isolation at school, she didn't like it, but she'd rather stay quiet and stay to herself rather then say something and have her words twisted and used against her in another rumor. The teacher's did what they could to stop the comments during class, or if they saw students shove her in the hallways, they would help Sansa pick up her things, or make the students go to the office.

Sansa sighed as she checked her cellphone for the time, she still had twenty minutes left.

Taking out her sketchbook, she decided she might as well craw something to pass the time. She bit her pencil's eraser trying to think of what to draw.

Smiling to herself, she decided to draw a barn owl. She loved drawing eyes, but feel deeply in love with owl eyes. She lightly sketched the outline of the owl onto her paper, erasing minor mistakes. She slowly worked on the details of the eyes, and then the beak. Moving on to work on the wings and tail the bell rang, making her jump.

She bit her lip, placing her pencil into the loops ot the sketchpad, closing her sketchpad, deciding not to put the sketchpad in her backpack or her math textbook. She got up and carried both books, making her way out of the cafe.

Before she could make it out the door, a large man bumped into her. Causing her books to fall out of her hands. The man cursed, as his books from his hands fell to the ground as well. Students laughed as Sansa quickly reached down to pick up her textbook. 

"Nothing about this is funny." The large man growled out, making the students shut up, walk and look the other direction.

"I'm sorry, I should have been paying attention to where I was going." Sansa said softly as she reached for one of the sketchpads that were laying on the ground.

The man grunted and picked up his binder, textbook, and the other sketch pad.

Sansa looked up at the man and noticed the scare on his face. She knew the man and knew he was a friend of Joffrey's.

"Oh, I'm really, really sorry Sandor." Sansa said while looking at Sandor in the eyes as she always did, knowing Joffrey probably put him up to knocking into her.

"Stop apologizing, I should have been paying attention as well. No one dares to walk in my way normally." Sandor grunted as they both walked out of the cafe, Sansa noticed as students now avoided her, and even avoided looking at her. She shook her head slowly, knowing it wasn't her they were avoiding, but it was Sandor.

"Well, I, um...I guess I'll see you later then at gym." Sansa said softly, knowing that they had the same class but they both never did anything together. Gendry and him would sometimes say a few things, but Sandor would either play football with other guys or go into the weightroom to work out.

Sandor glared at her and just shrugged his shoulders, "Whatever." He grumbled and turned down a hallway, leaving Sansa by herself.

She groaned as the late bell rang, she hurried to her math class. Once making it to the room she realized they had a subsitute. She sighed softly, making her way to her seat in the back. One of the male students stuck out his leg, trying to trip her. She glared at the back of his head as she slowly walked over his leg.

Deciding that she had studied enough of her textbook, she wanted to finish her owl sketch.

She opened up the sketchpad and realized that this sketch pad was not hers, but Sandor's. 

"Fuck." she softly swore, biting her lip she thought about looking through the sketchbook at Sandor's drawings and sketches. The first sketch was one of a grim reaper drawn with charcoal. It was really good and had awesome details, she smiled and turned the page looking at his next artwork.

The next one was a rottweiler snarling with it's teeth showing, it almost looked real. Sansa noticed it was drawn in pencil. She licked her lips, she was recently transferred into the morning art class and wondered if Sandor was in her class, she hadn't paid attention since she was ignored by everyone. She'll have to look around the classroom tomorrow to make sure.

She flipped the page to look at his next piece, which was a knight riding a black horse, another one drawn in charcoal. He's so good! She thought to herself as she flipped to the next page, wondering if Sandor was looking at her sketchpad, going through her drawings. She only had a few finished, maybe about two or three, but Sandor had almost his whole sketchpad filled with drawings.

She flipped through the pages, glancing back and forth at Sandor's artwork, letting out a soft sigh. She hoped he wasn't mad, she didn't mean to grab his sketch book. The school supplied the sketchpads, so they all looked the same. She was going to have to put stickers on hers or something, in case this happened again.

Knowing she was going to have to give this back to him during gym, she slowly closed the book. Not wanting it to get damaged in case someone knocked into her in the halls, she wanted to protect the artwork. She always became extremely upset whenever her artwork was destroyed or ruined by a student, she was sure anyone else would feel the same about their work.

She just hoped Sandor wouldn't destroy her work, or give it to Joffrey to destroy.

Sandor was never really mean to her, whenever Joffrey or his friends would make fun of her or hit her he would ignore it or make the violence stop. Once thinking that he was her hero, she went to thank him one day. But he quickly shot her down saying that she was nothing special and he just thinks women shouldn't be treated that way. Nothing personal.

That hurt her worse then anything Joffrey had said to her, and she had no idea why.

Lost in her thoughts once more, the bell rang and the students quickly left the room, she waited until she was the last one left before she left the room as well.

Sighing she looked up at the blue cloudless sky.

She just wanted this week to be over with already.

././././.

After English, she became nervous heading towards the girl's locker rooms. Arya was always there before her and always had her back if anyone tried to start with her, or tried to shove her into the lockers. Arya had a backbone, and also knew had to fight back. She wasn't afraid of getting punched, and she would gladly throw a punch back to whoever she was fighting.

Sansa knew she was weak, she wanted to fight back, but she didn't have the energy or the will to do so. She just didn't care, and she knew it hurt her sister to see her like this.

Taking a deep breath, she pushed open the door to the locker room. Girl's giggles slowly came to a stop once she came into their view. They all glared at her, they all hated her. Sansa walked over to the locker she shared with her sister, who was already changed into her gym uniform. A simple grey shirt with dark blue gym shorts.

Arya sat on the bench as Sansa began to change out of her clothes and into her own gym uniform. Her sister looked deep in thought and didn't notice when Sansa placed her book bag into the locker and closed it, locking it as well.

The sister's shared one of the larger lockers because once someone went through Sansa's book bag and scattered her stuff all over the locker room, nothing was stolen, but someone had ripped apart one of her textbooks. The school never figured out who exactly did it, but they replaced Sansa's textbook. 

"Hey." Sansa said softly while waving her hand back and forth in front of Arya's face.

Arya snapped out of her daze and smiled at her sister.

"Hey! How was your day?" Arya turned to glare at the girls who were leaving the locker room to walk into the gym.

"Same as always. I bumped into Sandor after lunch and we both knocked each other's books out of out hands." Sansa explained as she quickly put her hair up in a pony tail. The sister began to walk out of the locker room after everyone left and headed towards the gym.

"Did he do it on purpose?" Arya asked, she never really cared for Sandor, but Gendry, Hotpie and herself played an online video game with him after school or on weekends. Arya has been trying to have Sansa play the game with them. It would be good for her, since she didn't really have any socialization outside of their own home. She never told Sansa that Sandor played, and she didn't really want to tell her afraid that Sansa would avoid the game completely out of fear and not even give it a try.

"No I don't think so, he seemed surprised that I bumped into him. But I accidentally grabbed his sketchpad, and he grabbed mine. I have to give him back his sketchpad after class." Sansa sighed as they walked into the gym, they both were greeted by Gendry and Hotpie.

"Heyyyyyyyyy sexy ladies!" Gendry called out while Hotpie shook his head and laughed.

Arya glared at her boyfriend, as Sansa giggled. 

The four of them made their way to stand in line for attendance, they all stood in the back while Sandor stood in the front. He was the tallest guy in the class, and had to rip off the sleeves of his shirt because they wouldn't fit around his large arms.

Today Arya made the choice to walk around the track, she was too tired to do anything else. Sansa sighed but shrugged her shoulders and started to walk outside, she knew her sister had stayed up late last night playing a game with Gendry and a few others.

Sansa walked by Sandor who was making his way to the weightlifting room, "Hey!" She called out softly, blushing.

Sandor turned at her and raised his eyebrow at her.

"What do you want?"

Sansa looked up at him, noticing that he wasn't glaring at her for once.

"Um, I don't know if you noticed, but we kind of switched our sketchpads, I have yours."

Sandor grunted and nodded, "Meet me after class and I'll give you yours back then." 

Sansa smiled up at him, "Alright, sounds good."

Arya passed by her, "Come on! Gendry wants to talk battle tactics for this new raid boss. If you're going to play the game with us you need to know what to do!" 

Sansa turned away from Sandor, "I never said I was going to play." She frowned but started to follow her sister towards the track, she didn't notice that Sandor followed them as well.

"You can just sit in your room and waste away, think of it this way, the game is almost like an escape..Millions of people play it, and you can make friends outside of school. Plus you won't be alone, I mean you'll be a noob at first, but Gendry and I will help you out."

"Unless you suck really, really bad." Gendry teased and met Sandor with a high five. Sansa turned and was surprised to see Sandor behind her and Arya.

"What's up man? Thought you were going to be in the weight lifting room today?" Gendry asked as Arya turned to look at Sandor as well.

"Didn't feel like being in a small room with a bunch of arrogant cock suckers today." Sandor growled out. Arya chuckled, Sansa looked around to see if there was any teachers around before she dug into her pockets, knowing that there wasn't any teachers nearby Sansa took out a cigarette and lit it up quickly with her pink lighter.

Arya glared at her, "You know I always thought I'd be the one to smoke, I'm sure mom and dad think the same." 

"You don't like smoking, I do." Sansa mumbled as she took a long drag, feeling better. School always stressed her out, people stressed her out. She was so tired of it, tired of being isolated and glared at.

"You smoke?" Sandor walked closer to her, glaring. Sansa looked up at him and shrugged while flicking her cig away from everyone.

"You got a spare? I left my pack in the locker room." Sansa nodded and reached into her pocket, pulling out another cigarette. She slowly reached out, offering it to Sandor who took it in return. She stopped walking and lit up his cig with her lighter.

Sandor nodded his thanks while taking a drag, "I'll give you one back in return."

Sansa shook her head, "Don't worry about it, it's fine." Arya rolled her eyes as Gendry made his way in front of them, turning around walking backwards to face them. Hotpie walked besides Arya, keeping his distance away from the smoke.

 

"Alright sooooo, Sansa, you finally going to play tonight? We could use a spare healer." Gendry grinned.   
"If you don't fucking try this game, I'll tell mom about your bad habit." Arya growled out. Sansa sighed, she knew that was an empty threat, but for Arya to even bring it up she knew her sister desperately wanted her to play the stupid game with them.

"Fine, I will try it out." Sansa took another drag of her cigarette. "I'll heal or whatever you want me to do."

"YEAHHHH!" Gendry yelled out while laughing, Arya shook her head, "You're so stupid Gendry."

"You have to come up with a name though," Hotpie explained, "We'll have to take you through the easy raids first, so you get the hang of things."

Sansa's head was starting to spin already, "A name?"

"Yeah for your character, stupid." Arya said while sighing.

"I'm not stupid." Sansa said softly.

"Whatever." Arya rolled her eyes once more.

Gendry started to talk about the new raid, and how difficult it was, or how stupid people could be in the game by not listening. Sansa was deep in thought about coming up with a name, she had no clue what to name her character.

Lady? No she couldn't name her character after her dead dog, that was too depressing.

"Arya you brought up that there was powers, what powers are used for healing?" Sansa asked while dropping her cigarette on the ground while stepping on it.

"Sorcery, Nature, and Celestial." Hotpie answered quickly.

Sansa laughed, "Thanks Arya!" She said sarcastically. The rest of the group chuckled, except Sandor who seemed to be deep in thought.

"Which power would be better for me to use?" Sansa mumbled while still trying to come up with a name.

"Sorcery is probably your best bet, it's user friendly." Gendry explained, Sansa looked over at her sister who nodded. "I'm an Earth dps, Arya is an electric dps, Hotpie is a mental controller," Gendry paused while looking over to Sandor, he knew Arya didn't want Sansa to know that Sandor played as well. He figured the man joined them today just because of the talk of the new raid. 

"And our tank is ice."

Sansa seemed to not noticed Gendry taking a quick glance at Sandor who smirked in return.

"And Arya made some shitty friends who don't know what the hell they are doing, so we need you to heal for us! We constantly die!" Gendry groaned and ran his fingers through his hair.

"They're aren't my friends! I usually just grab whoever shouts in the main chat and pull them into our group for the raid!"

"How many do you need for the group?" Sansa asked, secretly wishing she had another cigarette to smoke.

"Well it depends on what the group wants, but normally we run on the harder raids with one tank, two controllers, two healers, and three dps's." Hotpie explained.

"Okay, so a healer obviously heals, what are the other roles for?" Sansa asked while she heard Sandor cracking his knuckles, he must be bored out of his mind she though. She saw him take his last drag before dropping his own cigarette and stepping on it as well.

"Well tanks pretty much use attacks to gain the boss's attention or whoever we are fighting. So when the tank uses that power, the enemy focuses on the tank for a certain amount of time and only attacks the tank. And the dps's are the ones who do the most damage, you need them to use their attacks to kill the enemies quickly. Healers heal everyone obviously, and the controllers give everyone power to use for their attacks, or healing moves." Hotpie explained slowly.

Sansa nodded, it seemed to make sense.

"There is a lot more to it, but that's basically the main point of everyone's roles. You also get armor or weapons from enemies, or tokens towards better gear that you can only buy with a certain amount of tokens." Arya looked over to her sister.

"That doesn't seem too hard, I'm just having trouble picking out a name." Sansa sighed while looking up at the sky. One of the coaches called to them, letting them know it was time to head back to the locker rooms.

Sansa turned to Sandor, "I'll meet you outside the locker rooms?" The large man nodded and followed Gendry who started to talk about the new raid, to whoever was willing to listen to him.

Hotpie walked by her, "Don't worry you'll pick out a name, you can always change it later on in the game too!" He let out a soft laugh and followed the guys towards the locker room.

"Want to pick up some snacks for tonight if we're playing the game tonight?" Sansa asked her sister as she followed her into the locker room. Arya nodded, "Yeah I'll need some beef jerky." Sansa let out a giggle as they walked into the locker room, she completely forgot about everyone hating her until they sneered at her laughter.

She frowned, but then thought to herself, maybe playing the game isn't such a bad idea after all. Arya was unlocking their locker, once it was unlocked she handed Sansa her book bag and her clothes. Quickly changing, Sansa threw her gym uniform back into the lock and opened up her bag, pulling out Sandor's sketchpad.

Arya had gotten changed as Sansa pulled her hair out from her ponytail, letting her wavy copper colored hair flow naturally over her shoulders. Arya placed her gym uniform in the locker as well, and then shut it tightly, locking it.

The bell rang.

The girls laughed and exited the locker room, heading either towards their bus or their cars. Arya and Sansa waited for everyone to leave once again before the exited the girl's locker room. Outside Gendry was talking to Hotpie and Sandor who was leaning up against the wall. In his large hand he held her sketchpad, Sansa smiled softly as she saw Arya walk towards Gendry to hold his hand. Arya wasn't always the affectionate one in the family, but simple gestures meant a lot to anyone who really knew the girl.

She walked up to Sandor who looked down at her, she felt her cheeks heat up as she smiled softly. 

"Here, I saw some of your work and you're really, really good." 

Sandor took his sketchpad and gave Sansa hers.

"Save it, if you really cared about how well I did, you would've noticed I'm in your damn class." Sandor glared at her.

"I didn't purposly ignore you or whatever, I just didn't notice you. If you happened to even notice, I don't even look around the room at anyone!" Sansa snapped while looking at Sandor in the eyes. Jeeze, I freaking give the guy a compliment and he's just an ass about it.

Sandor's look softened, "Nice owls." He grunted before moving away from the wall.

"We're going to pick up some snacks, we'll be online within a hour or so." Arya said while watching Sandor and Sansa look at one another.

Gendry nodded, "Alright, same here I guess."

Hotpie nodded and waved as he walked away from the group, "See you guys on tonight then." 

"Oh shit! I forgot my English textbook in my locker in the main hall." Arya cried out as she stomped her foot.

"It's not a big deal, just go get it." Sansa turned away from Sandor to look at her sister.

"I know it's not a big deal, it's just fucking annoying! Ugh!" Arya kicked at a rock.

"I'll go with you to your locker. You coming Sansa?" Gendry asked.

"To see you guys make out at her locker? No thanks I think I'll pass. I'll meet you at our car Arya." Sansa nodded before walking away from the group. She felt nervous again walking by herself. She parked in the parking lot that was across the street from the school, near the theater. She knew there were no teachers over there after fifth period, and anyone who wanted to pull anything, could get away with it. 

Sansa heard footsteps behind her, she turned and looked behind her. Sandor followed her glaring at students who walked by.

"Where do you park?" He asked while placing his sketchpad into his black book bag.

"Across the street, by the theater. I registered late for a parking pass this year so I got the shitty end of the stick." Sansa shrugged while Sandor nodded.

"I park over there too, normally I stay later for football training, but it's the end of the season now." Sandor reached into his dark jeans and pulled out a cigarette. He placed it in his mouth and then cupped his hand around it as he lit it up with his black lighter.

"You sure you don't want one?" He asked before taking a drag.

Sansa shook her head, "Nah, thanks anyways."

"Never took you for the smoking type."

"I never knew there was a type."

"I know you never used to do it, at least not last year."

"I started after all this bullshit started. Couldn't handle the stress and needed an outlet I guess." Sansa mumbled while walking side by side with Sandor. They made their way to the crosswalk in silence, before Sansa got the courage to ask Sandor a question.

"Don't you still hang out with Joffrey? I mean everyone from that group either ignores me or tries to still pull shit with me." Sansa eyed Sandor carefully, not wanting to anger him.

"His mother pays me to protect his ass in school, doesn't mean I have to like him or what he does." Sandor growled.

Sansa licked her lips as the light changed, making it okay for them to walk across the street.

"You should sit next to me in Art class." Sansa blurted out without thinking.

Sandor let out a deep chuckle, "Why? Will you pay me to protect you too?"

"It has nothing to do with protecting, I just really like your art. Plus you're the only person who really talks to me and looks me in the face without mocking me...Well sometimes." Sansa giggled.

"Likewise." Sandor said softly.

"What?" Sansa asked while heading towards her car.

"Nothing. I'll sit near you," Sandor let out a sigh as he turned to watch the crosswalk.

"Thanks." Sansa said softly as she pulled out her keys and pressed a button making her trunk pop open. She placed her bag into her trunk and closed it softly.

"Nice car." Sandor said while turning towards the sound. Sansa looked at her car, it was an 09' silver Honda Accord. She was still making payments on it, and it was her baby, her first car. She shared it with Arya until Arya bought her own car, her sister was still saving up for a down payment. 

"Thanks, what kind of car do you have?" Sansa asked while biting her lip, wondering what was taking Arya so long.

"I don't have a car."

"Oh." 

"I have a truck."

Sansa let out a soft giggle, she realized it was easy to be herself around this man, she didn't have to force her laughter or her smiles. 

Sandor started to walk towards the opposite side of the parking lot, and Sansa followed him. She notice his large black Dodge 1500 Ram truck. She gasped, "That's yours?!" Sandor chuckled and nodded.

"Named it Stranger."

"It's so bad ass, what year is it?"

"2013, Cersei pays me well enough to afford the damn thing."

"Lucky."

"Not really, job is pretty shitty."

"Oh, right."

Sansa turned as she heard her sister laughing, Gendry was holding her hand as they made their way over to where Sandor and her were standing.

"Ready?" Sansa asked as she watched Gendry pull Arya in for a kiss. Arya's face became bright red, and she punched him quickly in the left knee cap.

"Don't kiss me in front of my sister!" Arya laughed as Gendry smirked and leaned in to give her another kiss.

"This is fucking awkward." Sandor said while taking a long drag of his cigarette. Nodding, Sansa silently agreed with Sandor, she sighed and started to walk away towards her own car.

Sandor quickly reached for her hand and grabbed ahold of it, Sansa let out a yelp in surprise.

"Little Bird." The large man stated.

"What?" Sansa asked in confusion.

"You like drawing birds, and you're short, shorter than me anyways. You should name your character or whateve rthe fuck they were going on about that." Sandor explained while letting go of Sansa's hand, she suddenly missed the warmth of his hand holding hers.

"Ohhh, alright, that's kind of a really cute name!" Sansa let out a small giggle, "I'll think about it. That's better than anything I thought of so far." 

"Don't get your hopes up though, a lot of names are taken by someone else." Arya explained.

"Damn, well I'll figure something out, see you tomorrow Sandor!" Sansa smiled and waved as Arya said goodbye to Gendry and followed her sister towards their car, well Sansa's car.

Sansa popped the trunk and Arya placed her bag into the trunk, slamming the trunk shut. 

"Arya! God damn it! Stop doing that!" Sansa yelled at her sister as her sister laughed and apologized. They both got into the car, buckled up and pulled out of the parking lot. Sansa noticed that Gendry was still talking to Sandor.

"I never noticed that they were such good friends." Sansa said softly.

"You never notice a lot of things." Arya said quietly.

"Well, maybe it's time I make a change then." Sansa smiled and saw out of the corner of her eye that her sister was smiling as well.

"Let's get some beef jerky!!" Arya cried out while turning on the radio, Sansa let out a laugh feeling somewhat excited to play this game that her sister was so obsessed about.


	2. The Tutorial

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sansa learns how to play the game!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was so shocked at the amount of feedback I was receiving from the first chapter! You guys are amazing! I didn't think anyone would really enjoy this to be honest.
> 
> I know I said chapters would end up being shorter than the first chapter, but somehow this one became pretty long too. I actually got started on this one right after I finished the first chapter. I hope you guys enjoy it! Thanks so much for commenting or leaving kudos, even bookmarking! :D

Sansa pulled up the closest gas station from the school. Not only did they need snacks, but she needed gas for the week. Sighing, she stepped out of the car and noticed Gendry pulling up to the pump across from where she was currently parked at.

Arya let out a groan as she got out of the car, Gendry got out of his car, swiping his card at the pump to also put gas into his car. 

"Long time no see," Arya muttered as she walked passed Gendry, giving him a slight kick in the shin.

"Hey I need gas too, I didn't know you were picking up snacks here too." Gendry grinned as Sansa walked passed him as she shook her head.

"We might as well, since we're already here." Sansa smiled softly and followed her sister into the gas station.

Her sister was already trying to decide if she should get the original flavor of Jack Links beef jerky, or cracked pepper flavored kind. Sansa walked near the packets and grabbed both flavors, whatever her sister decided on she would have the opposite. Arya then made her way towards where the sodas were. 

"Just get a twenty four pack of Mountain Dew or something." Sansa called out while she made her way to the cashier. There was three people in front of her, either buying chips or lottery tickets. Sansa looked down at the floor noticing the ugly tile, while Arya stood next to her holding a pack of Mountain Dew like Sansa suggested.

The door to the gas station opened up, Sansa froze as she heard a familiar laugh.

"Well look it is? The stupid cunt and her bitch of a sister." Joffrey practically yelled while his friends trailed behind him, laughing at his comment. Sansa took a deep breath and closed her eyes, she could feel her ex's eyes glaring at her.

"What the fuck do you want?" Arya called out glaring at Joffrey.

One man finished his business at the cashier while the other two people turned slightly at the cursing.

"Well for one dip shit, you go to a gas station to get gas." Joffrey laughed and made his way over to where the sisters stood in line. He grabbed the beef jerky out of Sansa's hands and threw the packets across the store. Sansa clenched her fists to try to calm her nerves, she was shaking and she knew everyone could see it. She was afraid of him, and he knew it.

"Would you just fuck off!" Arya screamed and stood in front of her sister to protect her.

"Pick it up Sansa." Joffrey ignored Arya and glared at his ex. Sansa looked back at Joffrey, glaring back.

"You fucking pick it up your prick." Arya growled out while placing the soda on the ground, Sansa and Joffrey glared at one another, not noticing that Gendry and Sandor had walked into the gas station as well.

"Pick. It. Up. Cunt." Joffrey growled out.

"Stop talking to my sister like that you piece of shit!" Arya yelled as she walked closer to Joffrey, his friends moved closer as well. Gendry soon moved in between Arya and Joffrey, causing Sansa to break eye contact with Joffrey.

"Is there a problem here?" Gendry growled out and he glared at Joffrey and his friends.

Joffrey spat on the floor.

"Yeah, you're so tough. Picking on girls, why don't you you pick on someone your own size." Gendry moved closer as Joffrey backed up. His friends let out a deep "Ohhhhh" at the challenge. 

Sansa noticed out of the corner of her eye that Sandor had walked over to where the packets of beef jerky had been thrown onto the floor. He slowly reached down and picked up the packets, Sansa looked up at his face and she gasped as she saw the rage in his eyes.

Joffrey pointed his finger into Gendry's chest and was about to say something before Sandor quickly grabbed his shoulder, turning him away from Gendry and to face him.

"Enough." Sandor growled out while clenching his jaw.

"Don't tell me-"

"Do I need to call the cops?" The cashier asked while the people ahead of Sansa finished buying what they wanted and quickly left the store.

Joffrey looked at the cashier, to Gendry, to Sandor, and then laid his eyes upon Sansa who just glared back.

"You. Will. Pay." Joffrey growled out before turning quickly and walked out of the gas station with his friends trailing behind him. 

Sansa took a deep breath as Gendry quickly followed Joffrey outside.

"Here take the soda, I'm going outside with Gendry to make sure they do nothing to our car." Arya said quietly while she walked out quickly. 

Before Sansa could pick up the soda, Sandor quickly grabbed it and walked passed Sansa to the cashier. 

"Hey wait a minute! Those are mine! I'll pay for them!" Sansa cried out softly while standing next to Sandor next to the cashier. Sandor just grunted, "I'm paying for them little bird." 

Sandor looked at her, she looked back. She felt her bottom lip tremble and her cheeks heating up. She didn't have to energy to argue with the large man, so she left out a soft, "Fine."

Sandor smirked and looked at the cashier who rang up the soda and beef jerky. He had also picked up a two liter of Dr. Pepper and a bag of Lays BBQ chips. After he was done paying for the items, he waited by the door for Sansa while holding the bags and the twenty four pack of soda.

"I'd like $10 on pump five please, and also a pack of Marlboro Lights please." Sansa said softly as her hands shook, after facing Joffrey like that she desperately needed a smoke and she had given Sandor her last cigarette.

"I'll need to see some I.D. please." The cashier said softly.

Sansa nodded and pulled out her I.D. from her wallet, the cashier looked at it and smiled. 

"You look younger than you are."

"Yeah, I get that a lot." Sansa mumbled as she swiped her debit card and entered her pin. The cashier gave her the pack of cigarettes and Sansa nodded a thank you and quickly walked towards the door that Sandor held open. 

Sansa quickly unwrapped the pack, throwing the plastic in the garbage can that was near the entrance. She took out a cigarette and lit it up with her pink lighter, her hands were still violently shaking from fear and her nerves. 

Arya already started to pump the gas into the car, she glared at the road deep in thought as she waited for the pump to stop. 

"You shouldn't let him push you around like that." Sandor growled out in frustration.

Sansa glared at him.

"You know damn well that when I argued with him I was beaten, if I was silent I was smacked, it doesn't matter what I do the outcome will always be the same. I'm just so tired of it, I feel like...I feel like.." Sansa broke off into a sob "I just don't fucking care." Sansa took a long drag of her lit cigarette. 

Sandor just watched her, he raised the bag of beef jerky towards her.

"Oh! Sorry, thank you so much you didn't have to pay for them..Or the soda." Sansa whispered as she gently walked closer to him and took the plastic bag. She tried to reach for the box of soda but Sandor lifted it away.

"I got it, I'll carry it to your car little bird." 

"You don't have to."

"Well, I am."

Sansa sighed, she watched as Sandor made his way over to her car and Arya popped the trunk for him. She took another drag before she put out her cigarette, saving the rest for later.

She made her way over to her car, Gendry had moved away from the pump and had parked his car on the side of the gas station. 

"Don't listen to him." Arya said quietly.

"Huh?" Sansa asked as she put her cigarette back into the box.

"Joffrey. Don't listen to a word he says, I don't know why everyone else does. But your not what he calls you, you're better than he will ever be." Arya growled out as the pump shut off, Arya put the nozzle back into it's place at the pump.

Sansa looked at the ground, she knew her sister was trying to comfort her, and she knew what her sister was true. She shouldn't listen to Joffrey and she was a better person than him, but that didn't take the pain that he caused away. It didn't take the fear away from her, her sister's words did nothing.

She let out a soft gasp as she felt a large hand on her lower back. She turned towards Sandor who had a look of concern on his face. 

"Go home little bird, relax. I won't let him hurt you. Not anymore." Sandor said softly.

Arya watched the large man and her sister, her sister's eyes were blank up until Sandor touched her, snapping her out of whatever day dream she was having.

"Promise?" Sansa looked into Sandor's eyes, her body shook from sobs she refused to release. She was tired of crying in front of people, she was tired of crying in general.

"I promise little bird. Are you okay to drive?" Sandor asked while removing his hand from Sansa's back.

Arya shook her head, "I'll drive us home."

Sansa looked up at her sister and nodded, she looked back to Sandor who smirked down at her. He nodded to Arya and waved to Gendry as he walked away to his own truck he had parked near the front entrance.

Arya and Sansa got inside their car, Sansa placed the bag of beef jerky at her feet and the pack of cigarettes into her purse along with her wallet.

"So...Is this gas station going to be our new hang out or something?" Arya asked as she turned on the radio again to some random station.

Letting out a small giggle, Sansa shrugged, "Yeah that was kind of weird how we all ended up there. If it wasn't for Joffrey it would have been a pretty funny moment." 

Both sisters let out a few giggles, the rest of the ride home was silent.

././././././.

After finishing up some chores, Arya had given Sansa her old Playstation Three. She just recently received a PlayStation Four from Robb as a late Christmas present. She had helped Sansa create her own Playstation Username which ended up as LittleBird.

The MMO game, DC Universe Online, was already downloaded onto the system from when Arya had played it.

"Now you can just create your character, I'll help you with some things. But then you will have to finish a tutorial before you can play with us." Arya explained as Sansa just looked at her like she had just grown a second head.

"...Right."

"Alright well you'll love this part, pick if you want to be male or female."

"Female, duh."

"I figured as much."

"Doesn't everyone pick their own gender for their roles?"

"No..Hotpie actually has a girl character." Arya sighed.

"Wait, what?"

"Yeah anyways, now pick to be a villain."

"But I don't want to be a villain! I want to be a hero!"

"If you want to play with us, you have to be a villain. We're on the villain side Sansa."

"Fineeeeeeeee!" Sansa let out a sigh but giggled as her sister rolled her eyes.

Sansa was sitting on her lime green bean bag chair as Arya sat on the edge of her bed.

"Now pick your mentor and power."

"Mentor?"

"Yeah whatever you pick will give you different missions and stuff, like Joker's missions pretty much have to do with fighting Batman and Lex Luthor is pretty much missions have to do with fighting against Superman." Arya explained as she watched her sister pick the Joker as her mentor.

Sansa picked Sorcery as her power, like they had talked about before.

"Now you have to pick your movement type. You have flying, which you know what that is, speedster which is just running really really fast..Like the Flash, and you have acrobatics which is like a combination of flying and a speedster..You can glide and run kind of fast."

"I'll go with acrobatics."

"Yeah it's pretty much the common ground, flying is easy to use and being a speedster is kind of annoying sometimes." Arya took a sip of her can of Mountain Dew.

"Now I can chose my outfit?"

"Yup, and your hair style and you can screw with the colors too. While you're doing that I'm going to call Gendry to let him know you're almost done."

Sansa nodded as she switched through the options for hairstyles, she decided on having long crimson red hair. She picked out demonic wings for herself, figuring she was a villain she might as well be a sexy villain, she picked out a bra top and a skirt that resembled a loincloth. Then demonic looking boots and small biker gloves, last but not least she decided to have glowing eyes.

In the hall Sansa heard Arya talking to Gendry on the phone, being obnoxiously loud as usual.

"Yeah she's just picking out her outfit right now."

"Nah I doubt that, I bet she'll pick out something all sweet and innocent. She wanted to be a hero! Ugh!"

Sansa smiled, she knew her sister and everyone else would think she would pick out something sweet or possibly fairy or angel like. She wanted to shock everyone and hear their reactions over the microphone head set she was using.

"Alright, she picked out Sorcery..I'm going to help her with the tutorial real quick and we'll be online. I'll invite you guys to group after she's finished."

Sansa heard Arya end the conversation, her footsteps echoed in the hall as she made her way back to Sansa's room.

"So what did you pick out," Arya quickly glanced at the TV screen, "Holy shit...Gendry is going to shit his pants, he thought you would dress like a villain and be a bad ass..I don't think he pictured you dressing as a skanky demonic...Thing!" The sisters laughed, Sansa chose her whole outfit to be black, her wings to have a dark shade of red and some parts of her outfit glowed white along with her eyes.

"Alright, now type in the name you want..Hopefully Little Bird will be available."

Typing the name in, Sansa sighed as the system said it was already taken.

"I'll try using no space in between Little Bird." Sansa said softly as she typed in the name again.

It worked, letting out a big cheer and raising her arms up in the arm doing a little victory dance Sansa watched the short movie clip unfold as the DC villains and heroes fought against one another. Arya just watched her sister with a smirk, she knew her sister would enjoy the costume part.

"Once you start running raids with us, the enemies drop gear and that gear can be used as new outfits, so you can constantly change your outfit or your hair." 

Letting out a gasp, Sansa smiled in delight.

"That is so awesome!" 

"....Yeah we all figured you would like that the best. Now this is the tutorial part, you're going to have to do everything you're told to do by the guy who is talking to you." Arya pointed to the corner of the screen to a man's face who was blackened out.

Nodding, Sansa listened to the instructions of how to attack while pressing down square, or using triangle to attack her target.

"Now push down on the right analog stick."

"The what?"

Arya sighed, and she leaned over and pointed to the right analog stick.

"Oh, the joy stick thing."

"...Just press down on it." Arya rolled her eyes as her sister pressed down on the analog stick, activating her movement mode, making her run faster in the game.

Licking her lips, Sansa watched her character climb up walls and enter a hallway, there was a silver box in the middle of the hall and she attacked it while pressing square. A green bubble popped out of the box and flew into her character.

"Whoa, what was that?" Sansa asked as she turned towards her sister who was smiling softly.

"That was a piece of gear, press start and go into your inventory to put the new armor on. It'll change your wings into a cape though but you can change it so you have your wings again." Arya watched as her sister followed her directions, putting on the cape and then changing back to her demonic wings.

"Now you need to pay attention to when you get new gear, you press 'X' to collect the new style, but if the numbers are red, the gear is bad for you. You being a healer, you need gear that has green numbers in the 'Restoration' section." Arya explained slowly and softly, her sister nodded and continued down a hallway leading into a main room that had multiple robots walking around.

"Now hold down your 'L2' button with the 'Square' button for your sorcery attack. You need to use it to destroy the robots for this part." Arya explained while texting Gendry that Sansa was almost done with the tutorial, she had only a boss to fight after the robots.

Gendry texted her back while she watched Sansa laugh as she fought the robots, making them explode when she destroyed them.

'Sandor, Hotpie and I are just screwing around in Gotham City. We made a bet seeing how long it takes for Sansa to realize that Sandor plays with us too. He's going to keep his mic off when she plays until she figures it out.'

Arya giggled at the text and quickly responded as Sansa made her way to the final boss of the tutorial.

'Nice, I bet it'll take a pretty long time. It'll be weird not to hear Sandor over the mic though.'

She sent the text and watched her sister run around the boss, attacking him from behind. Sansa was biting on her bottom lip gently as she sat deep in concentration. She was obviously enjoying herself and having fun with killing off the main boss.

Arya's phone vibrated and she checked the text from Gendry.

'Yeah he's got his keyboard by him though, so he'll be typing in the chat box. You just have to tell Sansa to pay attention to the mini box as well as what is going on the game. Sandor just wants to run shit, he's pretty pissed.'

Sansa let out a laugh as she beat the boss, finishing the tutorial and transporting into one of the main Nightclubs. She looked towards Arya who was busy doing something on her phone.

"What do I do now?" she asked softly as she watched Arya's eyes flicker towards the TV and then back to her phone. 

"I'll let everyone know you're done. I'm going to invite you into a group, hit 'X' to accept and join, I'll be inviting everyone else as well." Arya mumbled as she texted Gendry back.

'Sansa finished the stupid tutorial, I'll be sending everyone an invite soon. And btw, Sandor is ALWAYS pissed so tell him to calm his tits.'

Letting out a small giggle, Arya walked out of her sister's room and into her own to play the game.

././././.

 

'SHE_WOLF HAS INVITED YOU TO JOIN HER PARTY, WOULD YOU LIKE TO ACCEPT?'

Sansa blinked at the screen and then glanced down at her controller, she pressed 'X' to accept.

"Hey can you hear me?" Arya asked over the mic.

"Yeah, crystal clear. Can you hear me?" Sansa asked while scratching at the back of her head, the headset was annoying to wear, but she would have to get used to it.

"Yup." Arya responded as a player called CrypticMessenger joined their group.

"Hey guys!" Hotpie said over the mic, "Nice name Sansa."

"Thanks, I like yours too." Sansa said softly, she felt nervous talking over the mic, and then felt stupid for feeling nervous since she talks to Hotpie and Gendry on almost a daily basis.

She watched as two more players called Bull Dozer and TheHound777 join their group.

"SANSAAAAAAA!" Gendry yelled over the mic.

"TOO LOUD! TOO LOUD STUPID!" Arya yelled back.

"My earsssss!" Sansa laughed while letting out a soft whine.

"Sansa you see the little square chat box on the bottom of the left hand corner?" Arya asked while seeing Sandor type out 'Really dude?' in the chat box.

"Ummm, yes." Sansa replied while reading TheHound777's text in the chat box.

"Okay good, pay attention to that because TheHound doesn't have a mic at the moment, so he will be talking to us through the chat box, he can hear you...Clearly since he heard Gendry yell like an asshole!" Arya grumbled as Gendry laughed.

Sansa let out a small giggle and was making her character run in circles around the Nightclub.

"Oh guys, she's in the Gotham Nightclub, she picked Joker as her mentor..So you guys can probably find her before I can..I'm somewhere in The Hall Of Doom right now." Arya said while sounding like she was focusing on something.

"Gotcha, I wanna see what you made your character look like Sansa!" Hotpie laughed.

"Yeah, we all made bets on what you would make it look like." Gendry said.

Sansa noticed as a large male character entered the Nightclub and stood in front of her, the character was dressed like a medieval knight.

She saw the name above the character's head, TheHound777.

"You guys all lost the bet, she's dressed as some demonic..." TheHound777 typed.

"Skank?" Arya asked while laughing in the mic.

"She's not a skank!" Sansa laughed as she saw Gendry's and Hotpie's characters standing in front of her as well.

"Dude..Sansa...That shit is hot." Gendry said while Arya's character ran into the room.

"Did you really just say that?" Arya deadpanned, "Ughhhh!"

"I think it looks bad ass." TheHound777 typed out.

"Yeah, I wasn't expecting that at all. It looks really cool Sansa." Hotpie said as Gendry started to hum.

"Gendry..What are you doing?" Arya asked.

"Thanks guys, I'm sure I'll be changing the outfit daily." Sansa laughed ignoring the fact that Gendry's humming was getting louder.

".....Really dude....." TheHound777 typed out as Gendry's humming was louder than Sansa's giggles.

"OH MY FUCKING GOD! DON'T YOU DARE START SINGING!" Arya yelled into the mic.

"LET IT GOOOOOO! LET IT GOOOOOO! I AM SOMETHING SOMETHING SOMETHING LET IT GOOOOOO!" Gendry sang loudly and terribly into the mic making Sansa and Hotpie breakout into a fit of laughter.

"What the fuck is wrong with you....." TheHound777 typed out.

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" Arya screamed into the mic.

Sansa watched as her sister's character who was dressed like a witch run over to Gendry's character, who was dressed as an evil clown in a yellow tuxedo, jump on top of him and t-bag his character's head.

"That is so rude!" Gendry said loudly, then let out a chuckle.

"Take it bitch! Eh! Eh! YEAHHH!" Arya said while laughing.

"What the fuck is wrong with all of you..." TheHound777 typed out and Sansa couldn't help but laugh at what he was saying.

She heard Hotpie sigh into the mic, and she giggled once more. This was definitely more fun than sitting around listening to music or just screwing around on Facebook. She still felt a tad bit nervous because she didn't know who TheHound777 was, but he seemed alright so far. If he could deal with her sister and Gendry, then he can't be that bad.

"GET. OFF. MY. HEAD. BITCH." TheHound777 typed out as Arya jumped on his tall character and started to t-bag him as well.

"No! Fuck you! Take it!" Arya laughed as TheHound777 moved out from under her character and ran around to climb up the wall. 

"No! Get the fuck down here!" Arya cried out while Sansa laughed as she watched her sister's character run up the wall and try to t-bag him again, but every time she tried she'd fall off the wall.

 

"DAMN IT!" Arya cried out as Gendry and Hotpie laughed along with Sansa.

Oh yes, this was a lot more fun than anything she's done in awhile, Sansa thought to herself as she muted her mic and took a sip of her Mountain Dew.


	3. Little Bird

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A few girls make the choice to gang up on Sansa at school when she is alone.

Letting out a deep groan, Sansa pulled open the door to her Art classroom. She felt like complete shit, but then again staying up until almost four in the morning playing a damn video game while she had to get up at five thirty in the morning for school wasn't the brightest of ideas.

Hitting the snooze button seemed to be a routine this morning, Sansa didn't have time to put on make-up or eat breakfast. She wore a black hoodie with just a bra underneath and some jeans she found laying on her computer chair, they smelled clean but she still sprayed perfume on them anyways, just in case. Her hair was put up in pony tail, her hair trailing down her back. It didn't help she was ten minutes late to class as it was, and while she walked into the class room everyone seem to turn and glare at her.

Letting out a sigh she handed her teacher her tardy pass, her teacher nodded and went back to painting on her own canvas. Averting her eyes from the glares and whispers of students saying she looked like shit, she walked over to her normally empty table in the far right corner of the classroom. Noticing Sandor was sitting across from her seat, she smiled softly. He was wearing his typical outfit, a black tee shirt that had a band logo on it, and dark jeans. He turned towards her when he heard her walking over, he nodded while letting out a grunt.

"Good morning to you too." Sansa said softly while walking to her seat. Sitting down on the stool she reached into her bag and pulled out her sketchpad, her iTouch, and a can of Mountain Dew. Sandor looked at the can of soda and raised his eyebrow.

"Mountain Dew in the morning? Really?" He grunted while he went back to drawing.

"Hey don't judge." Sansa said as she pulled the tab, her soda can opening with a loud pop. Students raised their heads from their work and glared at her, some shook their heads. 

Sandor let out a sigh of frustration as his pencil tip broke.

"Want some? I have an extra can." Sansa asked while taking a sip of her soda silently as she could. Using one hand she opened up her sketchbook to her owl she started the day before.

Sandor shrugged as he pulled out a pencil sharpener from his bag. He started to sharpen his broken pencil as Sansa reached into her own bag to pull out the second can of soda she had, she reached across the table giving him the soda can.

He grunted a thanks, and opened up the can making a loud popping noise as well. Students lifted their heads to glare but Sandor quickly turned his head to glare at them, giving them a silent warning.

The students quickly averted their eyes and went back to their work. Sansa let out a soft sigh while putting an ear bud piece from her headphones into her right ear. She turned on her iTouch and lowered the volume so no one could hear the music through her headphones.

Picking out Glory and Gore by Lorde, Sansa picked up her pencil and started to work on the details of the owl's feathers. 

After a few random songs, she glanced up from her work and watched Sandor leaning over deep in thought as he worked on a large mastiff with a bird flying above the dog's head. Sandor must have felt her staring and he glanced up.

"What?"

"That look's really good!"

He grunted, going back to his work. Biting her lip Sansa looked back to her own work, it looked terrible. She placed her left elbow onto the table and her forehead into the palm of her hand. Being so tired, she felt like she couldn't focus on her work. She let out a soft sigh, cursing herself mentally for letting Arya convince her to stay up so late working on getting her character gear and teaching her how to heal and play the game.

They didn't run any raids last night, but the plan was to run some tonight after Sansa got home from work. But she let everyone know that she was calling it quits at eleven tonight, she needed sleep badly. 

"Are you done ignoring me yet?" Sandor said as he slammed his pencil on the table, breaking it in half.

"Huh? What?" Sansa asked, being woken up from her thoughts.

"I've been talking to you for the past fucking five minutes. You wanted me to sit here so I could be ignored?" Sandor growled out.

"Wait what? No. I was just thinking about last night, I'm sorry. I stayed up too late, I'm just so tired I can't even think straight. What were you saying?" Sansa asked as she looked at him, she rubbed her eyes and let out a soft groan.

"I was asking if you played that game your bitch of a sister and her boyfriend were talking about yesterday." Sandor said as he mindlessly played with broken pencil pieces.

"Oh, yeah. I named my character Little Bird like you suggested!" Sansa smiled as she saw Sandor smirk, "We didn't do much yesterday, but Arya and her friends helped me get a few pieces of gear and taught me a few things. I think we might be running a raid tonight, I don't know. I might be too tired to play after work."

"You work?"

"Well yeah, I work at the animal shelter by the coffee shop on Main Street. Always working Tuesdays, Thursday and on Sundays." Sansa explained and started to take her last sip of Mountain Dew.

Sandor nodded, "You look like shit today."

Almost spitting out her soda on the table, Sansa coughed in surprise. Sandor let out a deep chuckle while watching her struggling to stop coughing.

"You know you're supposed to tell girls that they're pretty no matter what!" Sansa teased while giggling.

"I don't like to lie, you know by now how brutally honest I can be." Sandor smirked.

"Yeah I guess that's better than being around assholes who just tell you what you want to hear. But I only got like an hour an a half of sleep last night, so forgive me for not looking my best." Sansa laughed softly, checking the time she silently cursed and began to put her sketchpad away along with her iTouch after she turned it off, into her book bag.

Sandor shook his head at Sansa's explanation, and put away his own stuff as well.

"So what classes do you have next?" Sansa asked after she cleared her throat, coughing on the Mountain Dew really burned her throat.

"Algebra Two and then Computer Tech class." Sandor said while finishing off his own can of Mountain Dew before crunching the can in his fist.

"Sounds...Terrible for morning classes." Sansa said as she shook her head, the bell rang and she waited for everyone to leave the classroom before she hopped off her stool. Sandor nodded and followed her closely from behind.

"I have Chorus and then Theater, and of course lunch." Sansa explained as she turned to look at Sandor in the eye, who glanced at her in return. They both walked down the hallway while students avoided looking at Sansa. She knew she wasn't receiving any glares or being shoved because Sandor was with her. They came to the end of the hall before Sandor nodded at her, "I'll see you at lunch then." He said as he pushed open the door for her, letting her walk out first before he walked out of the hall.

Sansa smiled as she saw him turning, walking towards the math building that was near the cafe.   
"See you later." Sansa waved goodbye and smiled to herself, she turned and started walking back towards the Theater where both her Chorus and her Theater classes took place. Even though she was tired as hell, talking to someone in the morning made her feel...Made her feel almost normal for a change.

././././.

 

Letting out a frustrated sigh; Sansa slammed her Algebra textbook onto her lunch table. She sat down, letting out another sigh but instead of being frustrated, Sansa felt defeated. Her day started off alright, besides the fact that she just wanted to crawl into bed and sleep for a month.

When she walked into the Theater, she was tripped by another girl who stood near the door way. She had cut her ankle on the edge of the doorway by a piece of metal, when she stood up the other girls laughed at her misery. When she tried to walk to her seat another girl gave her a shove, telling her that she a piece of shit, telling her to stop upsetting Joffrey.

Sansa had enough, she was tired and in pain from being tripped. She snapped back, defending herself yelling that she didn't do anything to the prick, she just wanted to be left alone. Two girls teamed up on her and one punched her in the mouth, splitting her lip, as the other shoved her into the wall, crushing the side of her hip. Sansa growled and grabbed one girl's hair trying to make her stop. 

Someone gasped as the teacher came in, and of course the class all pointed their fingers at Sansa saying she started the fight. The teacher believed the other students since she saw Sansa's hand clutching another girl's hair, who happened to stop pushing Sansa against the wall before the teacher appeared.

It was like the girls knew when the teacher would come into the Theater, and they planned everything out.

She was sent to the deputy's office, limping, who in turn called her parents. She was let off with a detention after school on Friday and her parents promised that Sansa never had been in a fight before or had shown any aggression before. If it happened again, she could face suspension. By the time she was released from the deputy's office the bell had rang, ending third period, so Sansa lightly limped her way to the cafe. She was shoved and people laughed at her discomfort.

She licked her bottom lip that was trembling, it stung and she could feel it swelling up. She wiped her lip on her sleeve to wipe away the blood. She refused to cry in front of the students in the hallway, and she refused to sit here at the cafe and cry for everyone to see.

Crossing her arms on the table, she put her head down. She wanted so badly to go home, she wanted to badly to just take a nap. But she knew if she let her guard down someone would once again start something with her, and if anything else happened she wasn't sure if she could hold back from crying.

Closing her eyes, she lightly sucked on her bottom lip, trying to make the stinging pain go away. She always found joy in singing and being on stage, but being with people who liked to pick on her had to ruin everything. The things she once found happiness in, was now being sucked away from her. She felt the table shift as someone sat down at her table, her body tensed preparing for anothing beating. Slowly moving her head up to look at who sat down at her table she felt herself sighing in relief as Sandor placed his food tray down on the table.

He looked over to her, his eyes first glanced into her own but quickly trailed down to her split lip. She watched as a swirl of emotions mixed within his steel grey eyes; his fists clenched as he licked his own lips.

He was angry.

"Who did it?" He asked, his voice was deep and dark, his body was shaking from the rage that flowed through out his body.

"Don't worry about-" Sansa started to whisper while wiping away tears that started to form in her eyes.

"DON'T." Sandor started to yell but growled when he saw Sansa flinch at his tone.

He was more than angry, he was furious.

"Little Bird, don't tell me what not to worry when someone physically caused you harm. Who did it?" Sandor rasped out while he clenched his jaw, he kept his eyes on hers. She lightly licked at her bottom lip and tasted blood, she quickly wiped her lip on her hoodie's sleeve.

"Some girls in my Chorus class, I tried fighting back. Well I tried to make them stop but the teacher came in and saw my fist in some bitch's hair. I was sent to the deputy's office, and now I have detention on Friday." Sansa explained as she felt her eyes burning. She placed her head back into her arms, she struggled to hold in the sobs that wanted to escaped.

She heard Sandor curse under his breath, she felt the table shift once more. She glanced up and saw him walking towards the food court. Students moved out of his way as quickly as they could, seeing how furious he was. She sniffed lightly and put her head back into her arms, she was so tired of this hell hole.

She needed a smoke desperately. 

A few moments later she felt a presence beside her and a soft sound of a tray being placed in front of her. She sat up and saw Sandor walking across the table to grab his things and his food tray from before, he made his way next to her and sat in the seat in the seat to the left of her. 

He looked at her and looked at the food tray he placed in front of her and nodded.

"Eat." He growled out softly before he started to eat his own slices of pepperoni pizza. Sansa looked in front of her and saw that he had bought her a small jug of orange juice, a small carton of chocolate milk, and a chicken caesar wrap. She looked up to Sandor who just finished his first slice of pizza and was working on his second.

"Thank you." Sansa whispered as she opened up her carton of chocolate milk and took a small sip. 

Sandor shrugged and swallowed the pizza he was chewing.

"Didn't know what you liked, but figured that wouldn't bother your lip." He grunted while avoided looking at her in the eyes. He was struggling extremely hard to keep his anger from lashing out, he never had to control himself before around anyone but in the weak state Sansa was in, he didn't want to upset her any further.

He just wanted her to eat and stay quiet while he kept his violent tendencies to himself.

He knew he couldn't hurt the girls who ganged up on Sansa, but he knew someone who could get back at the girls. He needed to talk to the bitch of a she wolf right away before the day was over.

Watching out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sansa starting to eat the chicken caesar wrap. He nodded slightly at the sight of her eating, it was a good sign.

A few moments passed by, Sandor had finished his pizza slices and he had downed his Gatorade in a few gulps. Sansa finished eating one half of her wrap and her carton of chocolate milk. 

"Finish it." Sandor said as he lightly pushed her tray closer to her.

"It hurts." Sansa said as she looked over to Sandor who frowned in return.

"Try taking the chicken slices out of the wrap and eating them like chicken fingers, only rip them into smaller chunks and avoid touching your lip." Sandor growled out frustrated he had to explain how to eat something to her.

But his frustration quickly vanished as he saw the girl who sat next to him, follow his instructions and picked apart the chicken quietly before eating it. He saw her flinch a few times if her fingers grazed across her bottom lip.

He knew it was going to bruise.

"Did they only hit your face?" Sandor growled out, not sure if he wanted to know the answer.

Sansa slowly stopped chewing and shook her head. She finished swallowing the chicken and turned to face Sandor, she lightly pulled up her jeans and showed him her swollen ankle that had a cut vertically running down from the bottom of her ankle by her socks and up to meeting her calf. There was dried blood on her skin, some blood was even dried on her jeans.

"I didn't want to go to the clinic." Sansa explained as she felt embarrassed, she knew she had been cut from being tripped but she didn't know it was that bad. Showing Sandor was actually her first time looking at her injury herself.

Sandor slammed his fists on the table and let out an angry sigh.

"And my hip hurts really bad." Sansa turned again slightly, lifting up her hoodie slowly. She flinched as her hip throbbed in pain, her whole right side of her hip and leg ached in a burning pain. Her skin was a deep red color, some parts of her hip was already a shade of purple. 

"Holy fucking shit!" Sandor almost yelled as he turned towards Sansa, he lightly grazed his hand over her right side, Sansa let out a yelp of pain at the sudden contact.

"You need to get your ass home, as soon as the bell rings I'm walking you to your car." Sandor grabbed both of their lunch trays, he stood up quickly as Sansa lowered her hoodie back down. She watched as Sandor yelled at another boy to "get the fuck out of his way" so he could throw away the trash.

Sandor's fists were shaking, along with his body. He sat down back next to her, looking over her body from head to toe. Well more like her split lip, her bruised hip, and her cut ankle.

"You can't sit in your classes for the rest of your day with your hip like that, you can't walk around with your ankle like that. FUCK!" Sandor slammed his fists on the table again, causing other students who were sitting in the cafe to jump and look over to where Sandor and Sansa were sitting at.

Sandor turned towards their stares, glaring at them.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU ALL LOOKING AT?!" He screamed at them standing up slowly while cracking his neck, he was angry and was ready to fight someone.

He felt a light tug on his arm, he slowly sat back down as the students turned away, afraid of what Sandor would do next.

Sansa let out a soft sniff, trying to calm herself down.

"You need to show your parents Little Bird, you might have to get your hip checked out by a doctor." Sandor clenched his jaw while looking towards Sansa.

Nodding, she licked at her lip. The bell rang and Sandor watched as the students quickly left the cafe. He nodded at her and grabbed a hold of her hand, gently helping her stand up. She left out a soft groan in pain but didn't really complain much. She reached down to pick up her book bag after Sandor let go of her hand, but Sandor grabbed it, along with her textbook. He slung his own bag over his back and shoulders. 

"Come on Little Bird, Let's get you home." Sandor said softly as he led her out of the cafe and towards the crosswalk.

Sansa limped slightly trying to keep up with Sandor's pace. Sandor noticed her struggling and he slowed down a bit, walking next to her. He guided her across the cross walk and into the parking lot, she started walking towards her car but he lightly grabbed her arm and had her follow him towards his truck.

"I'm taking you home, you can't drive like that." Sandor looked at her, waiting for her to argue but she just nodded. She was in so much pain and she was exhausted. Sandor placed their bags in the bed of his truck, he led Sansa to the passenger side of his truck, and helped lift her into her seat. Walking over to the driver's side he saw Sansa pulling out keys from her left back pocket.

She reached out to give them to him, "Can you please give these to Arya at Gym? You know..If you come back to school?" Sansa asked softly while licking at her bottom lip again, it wasn't bleeding anymore but it still stung.

Sandor grabbed her keys and nodded, I was planning on having a long talk with her anyways, he thought to himself as he started up his truck and pulled out of the parking lot, he nodded as Sansa gave him directions to her house.

Half way to her house he looked towards Sansa while he stopped at a red light, she had fallen asleep and was smiling softly. Sandor smiled at the sight of the girl relaxing, he was as tired as her but he was used to staying up late and playing the game with Gendry. On days he had to work and look after Joffrey's back, he wouldn't stay up as late to play or get online to play at all.

He was glad that was one thing Joffrey hated, he refused to play MMOs he was more of a Call Of Duty or Battlefield fan. Which Sandor enjoyed playing those as well, but MMOs were more challenging and fun for him. He'd stuck with DCUO and randomly met Gendry who had invited him into his group to run a quick raid.

Once he heard Arya over the mic he knew he had to turn on his own mic to fuck around and piss them off. Months later they all enjoyed playing with one another and even joked around in person. Glancing over to Sansa again as the light turned green, he smirked. He knew everyone made a bet to see when Sansa would realize that he was really TheHound777, but he secretly was nervous to what Sansa would think if she knew the truth.

He pulled up into her parent's driveway, and in return her mother came out of the house to see who was randomly parked in her driveway.

"Little Bird, get up. You're home." Sandor poked Sansa in her left leg, causing her to wake up. 

"Hmm? Five more minutes." Sansa moaned out softly as she tried to turn over, but she woke up with a start from the pain that shot through her side. She let out a soft hiss as Sandor sighed, he got out of his truck, nodding and waving at Catelyn who waved in confusion back. He walked over to the passenger side of the truck and opened up the door, helping Sansa out of his truck.

He walked over to the bed of his truck and grabbed her bag and math textbook, her heard Sansa close the passenger side door and her mother gasping loudly.

"Oh Sansa! Your lip!" Catelyn cried out as she ran to her daughter who was limping slightly. Catelyn tried to hug her daughter but Sansa let out a loud cry as soon as her mother's arm touched her side. Sansa's knees buckled and she started to fall but Sandor quickly ran up behind her and caught her before she could hit the ground.

"Her hip is really bad Mrs. Stark." Sandor growled out as tears fell down Sansa's face.

"Oh honey, oh my god. My poor Sansa." Catelyn cried out, panicking. "We need to get you to a doctor, those girls need to be taught a lesson. I can't believe this! They dare call us about you, but those girls didn't get punished?! How dare they!" Catylen ranted as she helped her daughter and Sandor into the house. Sandor placed Sansa's bag near the front door. He walked over to Sansa and ran his hand through her hair that was in the pony tail. 

"Get some rest Little Bird." Sandor said softly as Sansa nodded softly.

"Thank you," She whispered, "For everything."

"Yes thank you, my husband already left earlier to go up to the school to talk to the principal. We had no idea she was hurt this badly." Catelyn explained to Sandor who was walking towards the front door. He nodded towards Catelyn, "I wasn't going to let her drive home like this, she could barely stay awake on the way over here."

Catelyn nodded as she grabbed her keys, "Come on sweetling, we have to get you to the hospital to check out that hip." Sansa nodded and followed her mother and Sandor outside. Sandor got into his truck and pulled out of their driveway, he beeped his horn twice and waved goodbye. He started to drive away when he watched Catelyn pull out of the drive as well.

Sandor gripped his steering wheel and grit his teeth, he was enraged. He ignored the speed limit as he made his way back towards the school, he had to have a long discussion with the little bitch about the girls who dared to lay a finger on his Little Bird, he thought.

Then he frowned at his thoughts.

His?

His Little Bird?

He scoffed, yeah right like that would ever fucking happen.


	4. IT WAS JUST A BURP.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ned arrives at the school to talk with the principal about the girls who ganged up on his daughter.

"My daughter has never been in a fight in her life sir, in fact she doesn't even know how to fight let alone throw a punch." Ned stated as he felt his face heating up, clenching his jaw he fought back the urge to raise his voice.

This wasn't the time to get angry and snap, no he had to handle this in a professional matter.

"I understand that Mr.Stark, but the girls have all stated that Sansa had come into class looking for a fight, she grabbed a fist full of another girl's hair and they were using self defense. Now if this was true, I let Sansa off with a warning and just a simple detention on Friday afternoon. Those other girls will be punished as well for their treatment to your daughter." Principal Varys explained softly.

Ned sighed, his phone started to ring. Ned glanced up at Varys, and Varys gave him a small nod. He swiped at the screen to answer his wife's call.

"Cat?"

"Ned, I took Sansa to the hospital to get x-rays on her hip done. Oh Ned, our poor baby, her whole right side of her hip is completely swollen and it's turning purple, the bruise is huge Ned." Cat cried into the phone.

"X-rays?! Cat, sweetie, please slow down. Did you pick up Sansa from school? What happened?"

"Sansa was driven home by a large boy from her school which in the condition our daughter is in, I'm very glad he brought her home from school, but he left to go back to his classes. The girls who attacked Sansa didn't just push her up against the wall Ned, like we were told. They slammed her, hard into the wall for her hip to be this bruised, this badly. She can barley walk without limping because of the cut on her ankle! She had to get a tetanus shot, her bottom lip is also swollen with a large gash from a girl punching her. Sansa swears all she did was grab the girl's hair that had her pinned against the wall to try to make her stop." Catelyn explained slowly, Ned could hear Sansa crying the background.

"I took pictures Ned of her hip, her lip, and the cut on her ankle. This wasn't just an argument, these girls seriously tried to hurt our daughter and they did. The doctor who looked at Sansa's hip explained that nothing is broken but she is going to have major swelling and we need to make sure she keeps an ice pack on it for three hours a day. She is not to go to school or work for the rest of the week. She needs to be kept off of her feet and needs to relax. Sansa said she doesn't remember who exactly hit her, the whole class was in on it and lied to the teacher. These girls need to be punished, I'm so tired of this school not doing anything while our baby is being picked on!" Catelyn starting to raise her voice over the phone, Varys shook his head in disgust and shock over the details he heard over how serious Sansa's injury truly was.

Ned licked his lips, "Alright honey, I'm with the principal right now, I will see what I can do. I'll see you both at home, love you."

"I love you too, goodbye." Catelyn said softly.

Putting his phone back into his pocket, Ned turned back to Varys who seemed to be in deep in thought.

"You know what this means right?" Ned asked calmly.

Varys nodded his head.

"If something does not get done about these girls, I will press charges. On the girls, on their families and on the school. It was on school property, a teacher was nearby but just so happened not to witness a god damn thing. The local news will sure be all over this story in a heartbeat." Ned threatened, his grey eyes glaring at the principal.

"I understand Mr. Stark, believe me I do. What can happen is since Sansa isn't sure herself on who exactly hit her...I can punish the whole class with I.S.S. (In school suspension) until they come clean with who laid their hands on her, if no one comes clean they can spend the rest of their high school days in I.S.S. So the girls don't cause any more harm to your daughter or another student." Varys explained while clicking his pen, not happy with the idea of the news getting a hold of the story.

"And if by some chance you find out who hit my daughter, what will happen to those girls?" Ned asked while clenching his fists.

"They will be removed from the school and be transferred somewhere else. The school system here does not tolerate such violent acts. I didn't know how much damage was actually caused to your daughter, she was directed to the deputy's office, not mine. I was in a meeting at the time with the school board." Varys nodded while he started filling out papers of the discipline forms for the whole Chorus class.

Ned nodded, he started to feel a little bit better now that something was being done and those girls were being taken care of properly.

"I'll be sure that Sansa does not have to attend any sort of detention when she comes back to school next week, problem is, now with Chorus class being empty except for her, she'll need to transfer classes, again." Varys said softly as he pulled out another form, a class transfer sheet.

"She has an option of switching her fith and sixth period with her second and third period. So instead of her day going as Art, Chorus, Theater, Lunch, Algebra Two, English Three, and Gym; with your permission it will now go as Art, Algebra Two, English, Lunch, Chorus, Theater, and then Gym. Not so much of a big change, but maybe she can make friends this way as well." Varys looked at Ned who seemed to frown, but he nodded after a few moments of thinking.

"That will work out fine." Ned agreed to the new changes of Sansa's schedule. He just hoped his oldest daughter will be happy about the changes after everything she has been through.

Ned reached out his right arm to shake hands with Principal Varys, who in return reached out his own hand. The men both nodded at one another.

"Thank you very much for your time, I truly appreciate it Varys." Ned stated as he moved to walk out the door.

"Anytime really, if Sansa has anymore problems tell her to come straight to me and I will handle everything." Varys nodded as Ned smiled softly.

/././ 

As Ned walks out of the building and towards the main parking lot, he hears someone yelling. Turning slightly he sees Arya waving her arms up and down while running towards him.

"Hey dad! What are you doing here?" Arya grinned as she gave her dad a hug.

Ned frowned, "Did you hear about what happened to your sister?"

Arya lost her smile and looked up at her father, "No, why? What happened to her? Is everything alright?!" Arya started raising her voice, as she saw her father's anger in his eyes.

"I'll explain more to you at home, Sansa was taken home by some large boy you two go to school with. Some girls pushed her into a wall, and your mother took her to the hospital to make sure everything was okay with your sister." Ned said slowly, watching as Arya's face began to redden with anger.

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Arya cried out but then quickly covered her mouth.

"Watch your mouth young lady." Ned snapped, Arya nodded softly. 

"Everything is being taken care of Arya, I just talked with the principal and the girls will be punished." Ned nodded, a bell rang out and Arya frowned.

"Crap, I'm late for Gym, I'll see you when I get home dad!" Arya grumbled while thinking about what her father just told her. She gave her father another hug before running off towards the locker rooms to change quickly, she could only hope Coach Brienne will understand her being so late. Not that she really cared anyways.

/./././

After quickly changing into her uniform and explaining to Coach Brienne that she was talking to her dad, and explaining that Sansa won't be coming because of what happened. Brienne had always liked the Stark girls and tried her best to look out for them, so when she found out that Sansa had been hurt bad enough to be taken to the hospital, she became quite frustrated.

She let Arya off with a warning for being so late, and walked with her into the Gym, there she started to take attendance while Arya ran up to Gendry, Hotpie, and a furious looking Sandor.

"Hey babes," Gendry smiled at her but noticed how angry she looked, "What's the matter? Where's Sansa?"

Arya shrugged while looking towards Sandor who glared at the ground.

"Mom took her to the hospital." She explained.

"Wait, what? Why?" Hotpie asked with worry.

"Because some fucking twats decided to beat the shit out of her in her Chorus class." Sandor growled out as he punched the wall behind him.

"You know what happened to my sister? What the fuck?!" Arya cried out while glaring up at the tall man.

"I saw her at lunch, with her head in her arms at a lunch table by herself. I sat down near her and she looked up at me with a split fucking lip. Some bitch punched her, while a few slammed her up against the wall crushing her fucking hip. She was tripped and her ankle was cut pretty badly on a piece of metal. Her hip looked really bad, so I took her home after lunch." Sandor explained while he punched the wall again and again.

"Dad was in the parking lot before I came here, he said everything was going to be okay." Arya said softly. "He also said he just got done talking to Varys, and that the girls will be punished."

Sandor shook his head, "The girls aren't the only ones who should be punished." he growled out while looking at his swollen fist.

"What do you mean?" Arya asked while cracking her knuckles.

"Sansa mentioned something about the girls saying shit about Joffrey, I have a feeling that fucker had something to do with the attack on Sansa, specially after the threat he made to her at the gas station yesterday." Sandor snarled, his body was shaking again with rage.

Arya glared at the floor, if Joffrey was apart of the attack on Sansa, and her father or Varys didn't know about it then she would have to handle Joffrey herself.

"Here." Sandor growled before shoving keys into her hands. "Sansa asked me to give you these, can't leave her car here over night." Sandor growled while turning, he walked out of the gym and into the weight lifting room. Letting out a few curses and threats to the other boys who were in the room, the quickly left the weight lifting room. Leaving Sandor alone, to do whatever he pleased without anyone bothering him while he let out his anger and frustration.

Whenever he closed his eyes, he saw bright blue ones with tears forming staring back at him. 

./././././.

"I'm going to fucking KILL him!" Arya screamed as Sandor left the Gym.

"Sandor?" Gendry asked.

Arya turned around to face her boyfriend, "No! Stupid! Fucking Joffrey, I can't believe that piece of shit!" Arya growled as she kicked at the wall Sandor was just recently punching.

"Hey, hey. Whatever that fucker did to your sister, we'll help you out. But don't go hurting yourself by kicking a wall, that won't help anything or anyone. Stupid." Gendry stated while smirking down at Arya.

Letting out a growl, Arya quickly turned and kicked Gendry in between the legs, he feel to his knees gasping.

"Don't call me stupid! Stupid!" Arya snapped as she stormed out of the Gym, running towards the football field.

"Ah, young love." Hotpie muttered as Gendry tried standing up again.

"Shut upppp!" Gendry growled but let out a chuckle. They both followed Arya out of the Gym, and towards the football field where Arya challenged them to play tackle football. Two against one, Gendry and Hotpie against her. She kicked their asses and rubbed their faces in her victory.

"Suck it bitches!!" Arya yelled out while skipping towards the locker rooms while holding her hands in the air, with her middle finger shooting out to everyone, Gendry and Hotpie trailed behind her, unhappy, and faces covered with grass and mud stains. The both shook their heads at Arya's dance, anyone else who walked by Arya just gave them the finger while sticking out her tongue. Fuck everyone, she thought happily.

Sandor walked out of the weight lifting room, sweat dripped down his face and arms. He was panting softly and nodded as he saw Gendry and Hotpie walk by him slowly. Everyone else avoided Sandor and quickly moved out of his way as he started walking towards the locker room.

"Good work out?" Gendry asked while looking at Sandor who grunted in return.

"Wish we could say the same thing, Arya just beat the shit out of us in tackle football." Hotpie groaned. Arya quickly turned towards the three guys and gave them all the finger with both hands.

"Suck. It. Bitches." She said, and then started laughing. "Why does violence always make me so happy?" She cried out as she wiped away a tear from her eye.

Gendry smirked and shook his head at his girlfriend, he knew how upset she had been when she found out her sister had been hurt, he didn't mind being her punching bag while playing sports. She wasn't the type of girl to hold back or bottle up emotions, she was a wild girl and he loved that about her.

Hotpie on the other hand, looked like he wanted to die just because they were playing football. Arya being herself only made things worse for him. He watched as his girlfriend entered the ladies' locker room, yelling at other girls to move the fuck out of her way.

Him, Sandor and Hotpie walked into the boys' locker room and quickly got changed and waited for the bell to ring. Sandor ignored everyone including him and Hotpie, he was lost in his thoughts. Gendry had a feeling Sandor had a soft spot for Sansa, but he wasn't sure so he didn't bring it up with Arya. Even while Sansa was with Joffrey, Sandor would always gaze at Sansa from afar with softened look, while he glared at everyone else.

He only wondered if Sansa would actually date a guy like Sandor, he could protect her from the bullying and treat her right. He wouldn't abuse her like Joffrey did, but he did have a temper. A temper he seemed to try to control while Sansa was around. Lost in his own thoughts, Gendry didn't hear the bell ring, Hotpie shoved him lightly.

"Let's go man!" Hotpie chuckled as Gendry smiled and laughed lightly.

As they walked out of the locker room Arya was leaned up against the wall waiting for them. Sandor was already ahead of them, but only by a few feet.

"You think Sansa will still want to play tonight?" Hotpie asked Arya who shrugged.

"She might play, I don't know. I know she was tired as fuck this morning and if she is in a lot of pain...Who knows...She might just sleep the day away." Arya sighed as they made their way to the crosswalk, Hot pie said his goodbye as he headed off towards his bus. 

Arya bit her bottom lip gently as she headed towards Sansa's car. It felt so awkward without walking with her sister, or hearing her sister laugh at some stupid joke Gendry would tell. She watched as Sandor stormed to his truck and slammed his door shut. He looked like he wanted to kill someone, she frowned and thought to herself, why should he get so worked up over her sister? She's MY sister.

And then it clicked in her head.

Sandor cared for Sansa.

She grit her teeth, he may be a cool dude to play some video games with, but he was associated with Joffrey. She would die before she'd let Sansa date Sandor, she would never be able to escape Joffrey's shit. Plus Sandor had a nasty temper, and he could really do some damage if he became angry with her sister.

She shook her head and thought to herself, no. Sandor isn't like Joffrey, he would never hurt Sansa.

She started up the car and turned on her radio, watching Gendry leave the parking lot, honking his horn and waving goodbye to her. She nodded and waved back slowly. What a stupid fucking day, she thought before she started to head home.

././././.

Ned had came home twenty minutes after he talked to Arya, he gave his wife a hug as she cried into his arms about their daughter. Slowly letting go, she told him that Sansa had taken a hot bath and was now laying down on her bed, Ned nodded and walked upstairs and knocked on Sansa's bedroom door.

"Yes?" A soft voice answered.

"It's me." Ned replied softly.

"Come in." Sansa said, sounding like she was going to cry.

Ned slowly opened up the door and looked at his daughter, she was sitting up on her bed while holding a large pillow and leaning forward. Her eyes were bright and red, and one her wrist was a white and green hospital band. He hair was wet but pulled back into a pony tail, and her bottom lip was swollen, turning a shade of blue. There was a large scab on her lip. He felt terrible in that moment, like he failed his daughter, failed to protect her and keep her safe.

He sat down on the edge of her bed, she leaned towards him as he wrapped his large arms around her small bruised frame.

Sansa started to cry softly as Ned 'sshhhed' her soflty while kissing the top of her head. 

"They told me to stop messing with Joffrey, Dad. I didn't do anything to him!" Sansa started to sob. "It's not fair! I'm no longer dating him, I shouldn't be afraid of him anymore!" 

Rubbing her back slowly, careful of her hip, "You're right you shouldn't be afraid of him anymore. Has he done or said anything to you lately?" Ned kissed her head again as she started to calm down, he felt her nod slowly.

"Yesterday we were in the gas station picking up some soda and snacks, he came in and threw what I had in my hand onto the ground. Arya got in his face as he told me to pick up what he threw. Gendry then came in and told him to stop picking on girls, and before it got bad between them, Sandor came and-"

"Sandor? Who is Sandor?" Ned asked while he followed her story.

"He's the one who drove me home today. He's Joffrey's body guard out of school. If Joffrey goes out somewhere, Sandor follows him around to make sure nothing happens to him, but Sandor doesn't like him that much. He grabbed Joffrey yesterday and made him stop saying things to me. But, but. B-but t-then, h-he..." Sansa started crying again into her dad's arms.

"Shhhh, what did Joffrey do?"

"He said, he said that I would, p-pay." Sansa sobbed, she felt her bottom lip split open and tasted blood.

"Pay? For what?" Ned asked while kissing her head again.

"I-I-I don't," she hiccuped,"I don't know!" She yelled out sobbing. "I've never done anything to him, but I didn't believe him. I thought he was just trying to act like an ass in front of his friends. But when those girls said something to me about him before hitting me, I knew he had to have said something to them. Normally those girls ignore me, they've never said anything mean to me or have never tried hurting me before."

"Okay baby, it's going to be okay sweetie," Ned sighed, "I talked to Varys and he is going to take care of the girls."

"But it's not fair! Why am I always getting hurt?! I'm so tired of it dad! I just want friends and I just want to be happy again! It's not f-fair!" Sansa's sobs started to calm down along with her hiccups. Ned kissed the top of her head again, he could feel his heart breaking but he had to stay strong. He wanted to go to the girl's parent's houses and rip down their doors and make them hurt as much as his daughter was hurting. But he knew he couldn't do that, but he knew he had to make a call to Robert about his son. Something needed to be done before Sansa got hurt again because of Joffrey. Enough is enough, and family is stronger than friendship in his household.

"You just rest now, Arya will be home soon. I know it's not fair right now, but things will get better, they always do." Ned helped his daughter into her blankets, and wiped away her tears. 

"Get some sleep, you have the rest of the week to yourself. I'm sure the boys and Arya will be home soon, try to get some sleep before they come in to check up on you." Sansa smiled softly at her father's words. She nodded softly, snuggling into her soft blankets. Her father quietly left her room, shutting her bed room door behind him. Trying to lay on her right side to numb the pain, she twisted the blankets around her legs. She giggled to herself softly, her eyelids feeling heavy.

She thought of herself making her own little nest in her bed, with her pillows laying beside her and her blankets wrapped around her legs in a cozy position. Maybe I really am just a little bird, she thought to herself smiling before falling into a light nap.

././././.

Arya pulled into the driveway, not bothering to take her bookbag out of the car, she quickly got out of the car and ran inside her home. Her parents greeted her softly noticing the wild look in her eyes, she mumbled, "Hello." back to them as she raced up the stairs that led to her and Sansa's rooms.

Calming her nerves, she softly walked towards Sansa's room, not bothering to knock she opened up the door and saw her sister curled up like a burrito in her blankets sound asleep. She sighed and walked closer, shutting the door behind her. She didn't want Bran or Rickon to enter the room and start asking questions. She knew what happened, she just wanted to make sure her sister was alright.

She jumped into Sansa's bed and crawled towards her, her sister was stille sleeping, but flinched in her sleep when the bed moved. Looking at her sister's lip, Arya frowned. It was swollen and blood had dried on her chin, her eyes were red and swollen from crying. Letting out a growl of frustration she poked her sister's forehead.

"Wake up stupid." Arya whispered softly.

Sansa let out a groan and opened up her eyes, slowly sititng up, she let out a loud yelp from the pain in her hip.

"Ugh, Aryaaaa." Sansa yawned. "What's up?" Sansa rubbed at her eyes, trying to focus on her vision that was fogged at the moment from taking a nap.

"What's up? I'll tell you what's up. You get the shit beaten out of you at school and I don't know about it. Sandor takes you home and I don't know about it. How bad is your hip Sansa? Mom and Dad said everything is going to be okay, but still." Arya rambled as her frustration grew, she wasn't the best at showing affection, but she cared deeply for her sister even if they didn't get along all the time.

"It hurts, but ever since I took the pain medication the doctor prescribed it hasn't hurt as badly. I just forgot my hip was injured when I sat up. I'm supposed to take it easy for the rest of the week." Sansa sighed as she laid back down onto her bed, Arya laid down next to her.

"Well that fucking sucks." Arya grumbled, "But then again, you can play DCUO while you're at home! You won't be so bored all the time." Arya grinned while Sansa rolled her eyes.

"You're obsessed with that dumb game." Sansa teased.

"It's not dumb stupid! You like it yourself!" Arya laughed softly.

"I can't play anyways, the bean bag would kill me to sit in." Sansa shook her head softly, she secretly did enjoy playing the game, it made her happy to talk to people again and have a good time. She didn't feel scared like she did at school.

Sitting up and moving her way off the bed, Arya walked over to Sansa's flat screen TV, she looked at Sansa's dresser that was in front of Sansa's bed and nodded her head. "We'll move everything so you can lay on the bed and play. It'll take some getting used to, but it'll be better than nothing." Arya turned to grin at her sister who smiled in return. 

"Alright, leave this to me, I don't want you hurting yourself princess." Arya teased as she unplugged the TV and the PS3, moving one at a time to the dresser. She set up the mic and plugged in an extension cord for the USB port, so the headset would reach Sansa as she laid on the bed. Giving her her controller, Arya plugged the PS3 into the TV, and then plugged both the TV and the PS3 into an eletrical socket that was behind Sansa's dresser.

Turning the console and the TV on, Arya turned towards her sister, "Good?" 

Sansa nodded, "Yeah that was awesome of you, thanks." 

"Shut the fuck up, I don't need your thank yous!" Arya laughed and looked around the room. "Do you still have more Mountain Dew?" 

"I think so, but the box is in the fridge down stairs." Sansa said softly as she logged into the PS3, and then clicked on the game to play.

"I'll bring it up here and split up the cans between us." Arya said before she walked out of Sansa's room. She headed downstairs and snuck around the kitchen like a ninja, trying not to make any noise. Opening the fridge door, she quickly grabbed the Mountain Dew box. Quietly shutting the fridge door, she glanced around, listening for any movement or sign for her family.

She darted towards the stairs, the cans clinging loudly as she ran up the stairs.

"Arya?!" Her mother and father called, confused at the sudden noise.

"Shit." Arya cursed under her breath as she moved quickly to Sansa's room, the cans banging loudly once more. She entered Sansa's room who was on the bed laughing at the sight of Arya on her tip toes with the soda cans clashing against one another.

"Shut uppppppppp, it's not funny." Arya grumbled while placing the box down. Reaching into the box she pulled out a can.

"If you're going to open it go into the bathroom."

"Uhhhh, why?"

"It will probably explode everywhere, and you call me stupid!" Sansa giggled as Arya stared at the can like she just found a magical lamp.

"Oh my god, that would be so awesome!" Arya yelled as she ran out of the room and into the bathroom that was in between their rooms.

"Arya!" Sansa called out.

Arya pushed down on the tab, and let out a deep scream as the Mountain Dew sprayed all over the bathtub. She started laughing like maniac while slurping some of the spray.

"ARYA, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING UP THERE?!" Her mother yelled.

"I'M HAVING A PARTY IN THE BATH TUB, WHAT ELSE WOULD I BE DOING?!" Arya's laughter started to die down while the spray was starting to stop.

"Awhh, party's over now. Ugh." Arya groaned, she looked down at her shirt and jeans which was covered in Mountain Dew, her hair was sticky alone with parts of her arm and face.

"So worth it." She grinned at her reflection in the mirror before leaving the bathroom to grab clean clothes to take a quick shower and clean up the mess she made before her mother had a cow.

/./././.

Sansa signed onto DCUO while her sister took a shower. She took out a can, and waited a few moments before opening it. It let out a loud hiss, but it didn't spray anything out. Which Sansa was most grateful for. Last thing she needed was to have her bed covered in sticky soda.

"BULL DOZER HAS INVITED YOU TO JOIN HIS PARTY, WOULD YOU LIKE TO ACCEPT?"

Sansa smiled softly, taking a large unladylike like gulp of her soda since no one was around, and un muted her mic. She pressed 'X' to accept Gendry's invitation.

"Oh hey, we were surprised to see you online.. You know after since what happened." Gendry said softly. Sansa read the names in their group, CripticMessenger and TheHound777.

"Yeah, Arya came home and woke my ass up." Sansa said before she took a small sip of her soda.

"Whoa, did you just curse?" Hotpie laughed into his mic.

"I'm tired." Sansa groaned as she heard Arya screaming the What Does The Fox Say song in the shower, as loud as she could in the highest pitch she could make. Rolling her eyes, she took another sip of soda, noticing she had finished the first can off already. She moved slowly to grab a new one.

"Go back to sleep then." TheHound777 typed out.

"I can't my sister just had like a freaking orgy in the bathroom with Mountain Dew and is now screaming some stupid song in the shower." Sansa grumbled as she rubbed her eyes.

"Wait...What?!" Gendry asked, "What was Arya doing?!" 

Sansa laughed before taking another sip of her soda. "She shook up the cans on Mountain Dew and ran into the bathroom and opened it up, spraying it everywhere while yelling. She's so obnoxious, you can never get any sleep around her." Sansa giggled.

".........." TheHound777 typed out.

 

Sansa giggled harder, but gasped slightly as she leaned to far forward.

"Arya should be out of the shower sooon.-"

"DONE!" Arya screamed and ran out of the bathroom and into her own room.

"Nevermind, clearly she's done. Like a five year old, holy crap." Sansa rolled her eyes and took another sip of her soda.

"Yeah hold on, she just signed on, I'll invite her into the group and we can run an easier raid with just the four of us." Gendry explained, soon Arya's name popped into their group.

"Wassssssss'up my bitches?!" Arya laughed "We running raids? Lets go, lets go!" 

"I will never be your bitch, bitch." TheHound777 typed out.

"Shut uppp, yes you areeee. Don't lie!" Arya said in all seriousness. If this man was seriously, serious about her sister, than he had some hell coming his way. Hell coming from her.

"Fuck off." TheHound777 typed out.

"No you fuck off! Maybe you'd calm down after you like beat the meat or something." Arya cried out.

Sansa laughed as she took another sip of her soda, finishing off her second can. She mentally flinched at her sister's words and let out a frustrated groan. Reaching for another can, she sighed.

"What the fuck?!" Hotpie groaned into the mic.

"That shit never helps honestly." TheHound777 typed out.

"...Really Arya.....Really Hound....TMI...Fucking TMI!" Gendry said as he was picking out a raid for them to run.

"He started it!" Arya cried out laughing.

"I did not you half pint of a female." TheHound777 type out

"Ughhh whateverrrr! Just wait until I t-bag your freaking face again asshole" Arya giggled into the mic as their character's switched into the loading screen, transporting them to the map to run the raid Gendry picked out. While in the loading screen Sansa took another large gulp of her soda, she was slightly nervous to run a raid. She really didn't want to mess up.

As their characters were transported into Batman's Batcave, Arya tried to run at TheHound777 to t-bag his head again, while TheHound777 took off running into a hallway, starting to attack ads, smaller enemies.

Gendry and Hotpie's characters also made their way over to the ads, as Arya and Sansa followed closely behind.

Sansa watched their healthbars, keeping them at full health as Hotpie kept her powered up. She watched as Gendry and Arya destroyed the ads, and TheHound777 using his attacks to make the enemies attack him only. She smiled as she recieved a piece of gear from one of the enemies.

"Hey Arya guess wha - BLUAAAAHHHHHHHHHAHHHHHHHUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Time seemed to stop moving for Sansa, and an awkward silence fell between the group.

"WHAT, WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!" Gendry cried out laughing.

Oh god, oh god, oh god, oh god. Sansa kept thinking as she lighting licked at her bottom lip. She felt her face heat up in embarrassment.

"UMMMMMMMMMMMMMM. THAT WASN'T ME." Hotpie yelled out, clearly confused.

She heard a loud thumping noise coming from the hall, Arya opened up the door so violently and starred at Sansa with her mouth hanging open an 'O' shape.

Sansa knew her face was beat read.

"OH MY FUCKING GOD SANSA!" Arya screamed, running back to her room laughing.

"ARYA! LANGUAGE!" Her parents shouted from down stairs.

"That was YOU Little Bird?!" TheHound777 typed out. "Holy fucking shit, who knew you had it in you."

Sansa wanted to die. This was officially the worst day of her life. She heard Arya putting her mic back on.

"HOLY. SHIT. SANSA. THAT WAS. THAT WAS." Arya couldn't find the words to describe Sansa's burp.

"Disgusting?" Hotpie groaned into the mic.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP I WASN'T TALK TO YOU, SHUT UP. I'M TRYING TO THINK HERE." Arya screamed into the mic.

"Clearly that's something hard to do for her." TheHound777 typed out.

"I think we're all just blown away by what just fucking happened here." Gendry said while laughing, the dude sounded like he was starting to choke he was laughing so hard.

Someone kill me now. Anyone, oh my god. What the hell did I just do, my life is ruined. I can never look at these people in the face again. Oh my god. Sansa was freaking out.

"NO, SHUT UP. THAT WAS FUCKING GODLY. OH MY GOD. I'VE NEVER HEARD A BURP LIKE THAT. IN. MY. LIFE." Arya cried out in all seriousness.

"Umm..I'm sorry guys. I didn't mean for it to come out, it just came out..." Sansa said softly into the mic, her whole body was tense. She wanted to crawl back under the covers and just go back to sleep, but she knew that horrific burp would haunt her in her dreams.

"WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU APOLOGIZING FOR SUCH A FUCKING AWESOME GIFT. OH. MY. GOD. LOOK IF YOU DON'T WANT THAT GIFT, GIVE IT TO ME, PASS THAT SHIT ONTO ME RIGHT NOW." Arya yelled as she attacked more enemies.

"Please don't give her the gift!" Gendry cried out.

"SHUT UP STUPID! I NEED THAT GIFT, YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND. I WOULD BE A CHAMPION OF BURPING, THE CHAMPION OF THE BURPING KINGDOM!" Arya yelled, Sansa heard Hotpie sighed into his mic.

"Is this bitch on crack..?" TheHound777 typed out "A burp is a burp, nothing to fucking flip out over."

"THAT WAS NOT AN ORDINARY BURP. HOLY FUCK YOU GUYS JUST DON'T GET IT! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND ME AT ALL!" Arya cried out.

"I don't even know how it happened! I swear! I'm really sorry guys!" Sansa cried out, she was embarrassed enough, and Arya was making things ten times worse.

"IF I COULD DIE WHILE BURPING, I'D WANT MY BURP TO SOUND LIKE THAT." Arya laughed into the mic.

"....Holy shit..." Gendry mumbled.

"....Yeah..Your girl officially lost it Bull Dozer..." TheHound777 typed out.

"I CAN'T LOSE WHAT I NEVER HAD, SANSA IS THE ONE WITH THE GIFT, SANSA IS THE CHOSEN ONE!" Arya cried out.

"Umm.... Arya..." Sansa started to say but Arya's laugh cut her off.

"IF YOU BURP LIKE THAT IMAGINE WHAT YOUR FARTS ARE GOING TO BE LIKE!" Arya yelled out howling with laughter.

Sansa just laid down and sighed, this has to be a nightmare, this has to be a damn nightmare, she thought.

"WTFFFFFFFFFFF." TheHound777 typed out. "Really? IT'S JUST A FUCKING BURP!!"

"I don't want to know what any farts are like personally." Hotpie said quietly.

"Mine are rancid." Gendry mumbled out while chuckling.

"SANSA, YOU NEED TO FART. I NEED TO HEAR YOU FART RIGHT NOW. I DON'T CARE WHAT THEY SAY, YOU'RE THE CHOSEN ONE." Arya exclaimed. "CANNNN YOU SMELLLLLLL THE FARTSSSSS TONIGGHHHHTTTTT!" Arya started to sing loudly.

"I'm not fucking farting Arya! Holy shit!" Sansa snapped.

"Did...Did you just curse at me?!" Arya cried out.

"Yeah Little Bird is little miss cranky pants because she's tired." TheHound777 typed out.

"Wow Sansa, just because you burped like a scumbag, doesn't mean you should be a bitch to me, jeeze." Arya explained while sighing softly.

"Oh my god, I'm going to kill you." Sansa frowned.

"Why? it's not my fault you burped like that, disgusting." Arya growled out.

"........Wtf is happening...." TheHound777 typed out.

"Dude..I don't even know anymore..." Gendry laughed softly

"Arya's just...Arya..." Hotpie laughed.

"Oh..My...God...Shut up Arya." Sansa growled as she stopped healing.

"DISGUSTING!"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Sansa yelled into the mic.

"SANSA! LANGUAGE!" Her parents shouted from downstairs.

Sansa let out a sigh as she heard her sister laughing over the mic.

She was starting to hate Tuesdays more than Mondays.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd really love to thank ASeasonOfPoison for requesting the whole burping topic. I hope you enjoyed it!  
> Thank you everyone who also left comments and kudos, and even bookmarked this! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! :D


	5. Trouble Sleeping

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sansa wakes up in the middle of the night because of the pain in her hip. She signs onto DCUo and finds that only TheHound777 is online.

Moaning and crying out in pain, Sansa rolled over in her bed trying to get into a comfortable position without her side hurting. Earlier, after they beat the raid on the game; Sansa decided to get off and try to get some sleep. She had succeeded but after being woken up by the sharp pain in her side, she couldn't get back to sleep.

Feeling emotionally and physically tired, tears formed in her eyes. It just wasn't fair.

Sniffing, she sat up slowly and pouted. No use in crying about it, might as well do something to take my mind off of the pain, she thought as she looked at her TV and her PS3. Sighing, she slowly reached for her mic headset, remote, and her controller. Turning on the TV, while lowering the volume, she also turned on her system and signed into DCUO.

She saw that it was three forty-five in the morning, letting out a soft groan she checked her friends list and saw that no one was online.

Well, except for one person....TheHound777.

Licking at her bottom lip, she decided on whether or not to send him a message, asking him if he wanted to run something. 

"Aren't you supposed to be sleeping?" TheHound777 typed to her in a personal message in bright purple lettering.

Well, at least now she didn't have to message him first.

She sent an invite to TheHound777 to join her group, figuring it was easier to just talk over the mic. After waiting for what seemed like forever he joined her group. She frowned when she saw the little mic symbol near his name light up, showing that he had a mic plugged in.

"You have a mic?" She asked softly.

"I asked you a question first." TheHound777 typed out.

"Oh..Right... Sorry," Sansa let out a small yawn, "I tried sleeping but the pain in my hip woke me up. I figured I'd hop on here to take my mind off of stuff." She explained while making her character run around in circles around a building.

"That sucks balls." TheHound777 typed out.

"I guess so, now what about your mic?" Sansa smiled as she watched TheHound777 run up to where her character was running around. She watched as his character stood still, she knew he was typing.

"I don't like to use it." He typed out.

"Oh, why?" She asked while attacking a nearby stop sign, destroying it.

"Reasons." He typed out.

"Ohhhhhkay then," Sansa giggled, "Well would you like to run some duos or something? Unless you were planning on getting off..." She watched as TheHound777 picked up a mailbox and throw it at a random car drive that drove by, making the car crash into a random building.

Sansa laughed at the sight as TheHound777 made his character do a cheer.

"I'll run a few duos with you... Doesn't matter." He typed out, she passed him the leadership so he could pick out the duos. 

It would be easier to run the duos, they were two-man missions with only two bosses. A duo only took about five to ten minutes to beat depending on the group. She ran a few duos with Arya the first night she played and Arya had left her behind in the hall, leaving her to die.

TheHound777 switched to DPS mode, something all roles could do. Every role could either be a DPS or be a specific role like a healer or tank. Just depend on the power the person chose.

He chose one of the easier duos, one that Arya had showed her. It involved fighting Black Adam's dead wife and some large Mummy dude. Sansa enjoyed it because it revolved a lot around of the Egyptian culture.

Her screen changed into the loading screen as their characters were transported into the duo.

"So I need to ask you something Hound." Sansa said as they ran into the hall, ads started to appear and TheHound777 used an attack freezing them all for a few seconds before he started to hit them with his staff.

"...Okay?? Just ask the damn question girl." He typed out before attacking the ads again. She used one of her spells to heal him, even though the ads weren't doing much damage at all to him. She started using her bow and shot arrows at ads as well to build up her super charge, her strongest attack she used for bosses.

"Well, I wanted to make sure you were really a guy.. Since Hotpie has a girl character, I don't want to keep calling you a dude if you're really a chick." Sansa explained, feeling slightly dumb for asking, but in the world where people didn't use their mics, she wanted to be sure. She didn't want to offend anyone.

"Lmfao, yes girl, I am a guy. Don't worry." TheHound777 typed out before moving into the next room. "....Does your hip hurt bad?" He asked.

"Not as bad as it did earlier while I was at school. It felt better after I took a shower, I don't know how I could have lasted the whole school day if it wasn't for my friend taking me home." Sansa explained as she followed TheHound777 into the room, attacking more ads and activating a boss fight.

"A friend took you home?" TheHound777 typed out.

"Well...I'd like to think of him as my friend. I don't really know how he feels about me though, but yeah..My hip was so bad that I wouldn't have been able to drive myself home. I mean my sister could have driven me home, but that would have been hours later." Sansa laughed as they defeated the boss and TheHound777 picked up a large vase and smashed it on the dead mummy's head.

"I don't think someone would take you home from school if they hated you." TheHound777 typed out while Sansa picked up a large vase and threw it at him, laughing as his character ran after her.

"Yeah..I guess so..It's just hard to believe someone would actually want to be my friend or even be around me. My whole school hates me." Sansa sighed as she thought about the events that happened earlier.

"I highly doubt the whole fucking school hates you." TheHound777 typed out before throwing a rock at her character, he ran down as hall to fight some scarabs while she followed him.

"Most of the students that go there do though, it might seem crazy or like I'm making this up..But I'm not. Ever since I broke up with this guy, some rumors were spread and everyone seemed to turn their back on me. That was last year, so it's about halfway through my junior year now and the guy who took me home today is the first person who actually talks to me like I'm a person, and doesn't treat me like I'm some criminal or scumbag. Well besides Gendry and Hotpie of course...And my sister." Sansa explained as they ran down the hall to fight some mummies.

"People shouldn't give a shit about what the fuck your ex says about you." He typed out before moving down the hall towards the final boss.

"Right?! He's such an asshole and everyone knows it, but they're all so afraid to go against his orders or whatever. Like they will be the ones singled out next or beaten up by his two friends that always follow him around. He makes so much enemies that his mother had to hire a bodyguard for him, it's just ridiculous." She sighed as she started to play with her hair, trying to calm herself down.

Talking to this guy about Joffrey actually made her feel a lot better, if she tried talking to Arya about this she would just cut her off with an "I told you so." or just move onto another subject.

TheHound777 ran into the room and activated the final boss, Sansa followed and stood in the middle of the room. Casting one of her spells, she started to attack the ads that the boss called out. TheHound777 used his supercharge on the boss, cutting his health down to less than half, while Sansa used hers to kill off the ads completely all at once.

They both worked together using their weapon combos to take down the boss, which only took a few seconds. Once the loot was dropped, Sansa checked her inventory collecting whatever styles she didn't have yet or deleted the gear. Since this was an easier duo, it didn't give out the best gear. The gear from the duo was worse than the gear she already had.

 

"You ex sounds like a a real prick, if you knew he was so bad then why did you stay with him or go out with him in the first place?" TheHound777 typed out before he exited the duo. Sansa let out a soft yawn before following him through the exit portal.

"Well my dad is best friends with my ex's dad. They like grew up together and consider themselves brothers. I knew my ex for a really long time, since I was little, but I started to date him because both of our parents were kind of pressuring it...That and I thought he was sweet. When he was younger he wasn't as bad and before we started dating he was careful not to show that side of him. I didn't see the signs while we were dating up until three months into the relationship."

"You mean you ignored the signs...And what happened after three months?" He typed out before picking out another duo to run.

"Well, this was back when I was a freshmen, so I guess I did ignore the signs...Hoping that my ex was just going through a phase. But one time at a party at his parent's house I accidentally spilled some of my soda on his shirt. I tripped over the rug with my new heels that I wasn't used to wearing, but it was in front of his bodyguard and his two friends...And he got mad...really mad. But he grabbed my arm, really hard and whispered into my ear saying if I ever fucked up again in front of his friends, I would pay dearly." Sansa said softly, trembling at the memory of Joffrey's hand around her arm.

"You should have left him after that." TheHound777 typed out.

"You're right, but after the party he pulled me aside and promised up and down that he would never hurt me again and he was just stressed out from his father." She licked her lip as she watched her screen change into the loading screen again.

"So like an idiot, I fell for his lies and not too long down the road he started to hit my face, or my legs. Even my stomach at times, he even had his two friends hit me or slap me...I....I was too afraid to leave him, he always whispered into my ears while wearing a grin that he would have killed me if I ever left him." Sansa took a deep breath as she tried to calm herself down.

"........No one would have fucking let him kill you." TheHound777 typed out.

"I'm sure he wouldn't have the balls to go through with it, but being in my first relationship and being insulted in a daily basis and punished for anything he thought was wrong...It fucked me up. I was afraid and he took advantage of that. Until my sister saw my bruises and scratch marks down my arms." She shivered and then let out a small gasp as her hip burned in pain.

"Wtf happened?" He typed out, the two of them where just standing in the hall of the duo, just talking to one another.

"Well we just went to the movie theater together, his friends didn't come or his bodyguard. The movie theater was pretty much empty except for an older couple that was sitting in the front row, we sat in the back. He....He wanted to have sex, something he brought up often, but I refused. I always refused, but he lost it and just started pinching my skin and twisting it hard during the movie, I had stayed quiet..Too afraid of what he would do if I screamed for help. He scratched down my back, over and over. It was one of the longest two hours of my life." Sansa took a deep breath trying to calm herself down and stop herself from crying. But her voice was cracking and tears fell down her face, she quickly wiped them away.

"After the movie, thank god I took a separate car, I drove home as fast as I could. I ran upstairs to change my shirt that had blood streaks on it from his scratches. Arya had opened the door to my bedroom while I was in the middle of taking off my shirt..And she screamed, causing my parents to run into my room and see what happened to me." Sansa was now quietly fighting back sobs, she took another deep breath and let out a yelp in pain from her hip.

After a few moments of watching TheHound777 standing there, she thought he had thought she was stupid like everyone else. She licked her lip and wiped away more tears.

"Well...I need a new coffee table now..." TheHound777 typed out.

"Why?!" Sansa cried out as she watched TheHound777 run down a hall to start the duo.

"Because I got so angry, I smashed it with a punch or two. Can't hit the walls or else the landlord would get pissed." He typed out while attacking a few ads.

"Are you serious?" Sansa asked softly while rubbing her hip softly.

"I never really fucking lie, always brutally honest." He typed out as she followed him into the main room, this duo they were fighting against Green Lanterns.

"Huh...That reminds me of someone else I know, the guy who took me home today said the same thing to me in my art class." Sansa said softly while lifting one eyebrow.

She thought back to TheHound777's comment about her sister's height calling her a half-pint.

She also thought about how Sandor liked to draw dogs a lot, and about TheHound777's name.

Nah, it couldn't be...Everyone would've told me if he was really Sandor...She thought to herself while casting a spell to put a shield around her and TheHound777.

"I'm sure a lot of people say the same thing, some people don't like being liars." TheHound777 typed out before he ran down a flight of stairs to fight a boss.

"Yeah." Sansa agreed. She attacked the boss with her bow and arrows, building up her supercharge again.

"So what happened to your hip anyways?" TheHound777 asked.

"Some girls from my Chorus class ganged up on me. My dad talked with the principal though, I got switched out of that class and into Algebra Two, and the girls are being punished I guess...But knowing my sister she'll probably do something to them as well. Like slash their tires or something." Sansa giggled softly.

They took down the boss with ease and moved into the next area to fight more ads.

"So now you're going to be in an Algebra Two class instead of some singing girly class?" he typed out.

"Yeah..But it won't be so bad, the guy who helped me today will be in that class too. At least I'll know someone in that class who won't hurt me." Sansa smiled softly, happy with the thought of having Sandor in her class.

"You bring up that dude a lot." TheHound777 typed out.

"Oh sorry. I'll stop talking about him." Sansa frowned, but helped TheHound777 attack a few ads.

"Stop apologizing, it's just weird. You talk about him like he's your hero." He typed out.

"Well he did help me out, quite a few times." Sansa explained.

"That doesn't make someone a hero." He argued back.

"Whatever, you sound pretty jealous of my friend." Sansa snapped, feeling protective over Sandor.

"You don't even know if he's your friend. And I'm not fucking jealous, why the fuck would I be jealous?!" He typed back.

"You're right," Sansa sighed, realizing how stupid this conversation was getting, She felt hurt about what he said about Sandor might not even be her friend to begin with "I'm sorry." She said softly as she followed him into the next room to fight the final boss.

"Stop fucking apologizing it's fine. Let's just get this done and then I'm done for the night." TheHound777 typed out.

Sansa was about to apologize again, but caught herself. She checked the time and realized that more than an hour had gone by, they had spent more time talking than playing.

Letting out a yawn, she helped TheHound777 take down the final boss, using her supercharge again.

"I should probably get to bed too, I have the rest of the week off from school..But I'm so tired." She said softly as she checked her inventory for the loot.

"Yeah I have to get some sleep before I get up for school..If I decide to go." He typed out.

"Oh you go to school too? You should go to school, it's bad to miss out and skip." She scolded lightly while giggling softly.

"After getting four hours of sleep between the past two nights, I wouldn't be able to function tomorrow. Plus there's no reason for me to go tomorrow really. Not really a reason until next Monday." TheHound777 typed out.

"Oh yeah, I wouldn't be able to walk straight even without my injuries from getting that much sleep. And what's going on Monday?" She asked while yawning again.

"Just things, I won't skip the whole week because I also have to work. I just look forward to next Monday is all, the rest of the week seems pointless to me." He typed out and then exited the duo. She followed him through he portal.

"Yeah I guess the same goes for me, I hate falling behind in my classes. Ughh." She sighed while closing her eyes, this whole situation she was in was really a mess.

"That sucks, maybe your friend can get your work for you from your teachers." He typed out while she started to run around a building again.

"Now who is bringing him up?" She giggled, "Oh man, I don't have his number to ask him. I'll have to message and add him on Facebook..I'll probably do that after this. I'd ask my sister to ask him, but she'd probably forget or fuck up my message." Sansa said while clicking her tongue in annoyance.

"Hey I'm not the one with the damsel in distress crushing on her hero." He typed back while attacking random cars, making them blow up.

Sansa laughed, "Hey I can't help it if he's cute." She teased, wait, what did I just say? She thought to herself.

I barely even know him... I mean he is good looking, but he can be rude sometimes...I doubt he even likes me, probably thinks I'm stupid.

TheHound777 stopped attacking cars and stood still.

She checked the time again and sighed, "Well if you stay home tomorrow, I'll probably be online after I wake up. Sorry for keeping you up so late," She giggled, "Not sorry for apologizing again! Goodnight Hound, see you around." She said softly.

"..Goodnight Little Bird, hope your hip doesn't keep you up all night." He typed out.

"Me too. Night." She said before shutting off her system and TV, walking over to her laptop, she opened it up and pulled up her Facebook page ready to search to see if Sandor had a Facebook.

She raised an eyebrow and saw she had a friend request, clicking on the icon, she saw Sandor had already added her. She accepted quickly and saw that he was currently online.

"Hey if you don't mind...Can you please ask the teachers we share for work that I can do to make up the days I will be missing, please? I got transferred into your math class today. :)" She typed out and sent the messaged.

He saw it.

He started typing back, Sansa felt nervous all of a sudden, like butterflies in her stomach.

How long has it been since she felt this feeling?

"Sure. Probably won't be in school tomorrow though, I have shit to take care involving work." 

She licked her bottom lip, thinking about how TheHound777 might be staying home tomorrow too, but she quickly pushed that thought out of her head.

"Oh well thanks! I'm off to bed, my hip woke me up..But it's starting to feel better...Thank you again for today." She typed quickly, sending it to him.

He saw what she sent and started to write back.

"Stop thanking me like I'm your hero, it's fine. It's done, I just gave you a ride home. Stop being a silly Little Bird and making a big deal out of nothing, get some sleep. You need the rest." 

She frowned at his response, jerk it is a big deal to me...No one else would have done that, she thought to herself.

"Whatever, I was just being nice. But you should get some sleep too! Goodnight though, :)" 

She sent while smiling, even though he was a jerk, he was still cute. But Joffrey was good looking and he turned out to be abusive, she thought and shook her head, Sandor is nothing like Joffrey.

He saw what she said and typed back.

"Goodnight Little Bird."

Closing her laptop shut, she thought again of TheHound777, but pushed the thought out of her head. There were a million people probably playing the game, TheHound777 was just some random dude who ran a few duos with her...He couldn't be Sandor.

Placing her laptop on her nightstand, she crawled under her blankets, laying on her back, she flinched at the pain from her hip.

She thought of Sandor's arms being around her, from when he lifted out of his truck. With the thought of him holding her and keeping her safe from her nightmares of the girls or Joffrey, she slowly closed her eyes, and sleep overcame her pain.

She drifted into a peaceful sleep, with dreams of her flying as a bird around a giant hound.


	6. Better than a monster.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sandor thinks about his past with girls, and how Sansa is completely different from any other girl he knows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I kept switching from Sandor's POV to Sansa's to mix a few things up.
> 
> Hope it didn't cause any confusion! The POVS are separated by a "././././." this chapter started off with Sandor's POV.
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy!!

She....She thinks I'm cute?

Sandor laid in his bed thinking about what Sansa had told him, if only she knew the truth. Once the words had left her mouth, time had froze for him. Being scarred from his older brother didn't exactly help his self esteem over the years. Girls had shrieked at his face and glanced the other way.

He knew he was ugly, he knew what girls really thought of him. He was unusually tall for his age, and working out over the years he became huge. Girls liked his body, but avoided his face constantly. Sometimes in the past, he would get lucky at a party after a football game. A girl would get drunk enough to gather her courage or become dumb enough to sleep with him. But they never looked at him in the face or in the eyes.

One night, a girl had whispered another boy's name and he had become livid, promising himself that night he wouldn't sleep with another girl until she could look him in the eyes, until she would call out his own name, until a girl wouldn't fear him and cry out.

He wasn't a monster, his brother was. But the girls didn't care for what was under his scars or his anger. No one bothered to get to know him, so he stopped giving a shit about people. 

That was until he met Sansa Stark.

The girl who always looked him in the eyes, who always smiled at him even if she was in her own miserable fucking world. She never cried out in fear of him approaching her, and lately she had been wanting to be near him. He wasn't sure if it was because she actually liked him, or if she just wanted protection from the people at school.

Well, until she had said he thought he was cute.

Running a hand down the burnt side of his face he scowled, how the fuck could she find this so cute?! If anything I'm manly looking, and nothing about being manly is cute. Cute is for fluffy creatures! He growled as he thought to himself. He sat up and checked his cell phone, it was five minutes to six. Yeah he was skipping school today alright. Throwing his cell phone in frustration from Sansa and the lack of sleep, he laid back down and let out a deep sigh.

It couldn't be a jape, she didn't know it was him who played TheHound777...Even if she did..She wasn't the type of person to make fun of people. She was the exact opposite of that, what the hell was she going to do when she found out she was talking about him...Really to him? Maybe he should just come out and say that it's really him, he frowned and shook his head.

He closed his eyes and sighed again, he didn't know what to do. He didn't want her to get hurt anymore, he kept catching himself calling her 'his' Little Bird, he helped her, and he watched his tongue around her. For what reasons, he didn't know. He was confused and conflicted by his actions, never caring about someone before... He didn't know what to make of this situation.

He was deeply surprised at how she had opened up about Joffrey and her past with him, he never knew about what happened at the movie theater. It pissed him off and he didn't lie to her about destroying his coffee table. He hated that fucker to begin with, now he just wanted to kill him or beat the shit out of him. He wanted to hurt Joffrey far worse than how the little shit hurt his Little Bird.

Grunting he stopped his thoughts, there I go again.. My Little Bird.

Turning over to his left side he let out a deep sigh, trying to find sleep.

Maybe...Just maybe there's a chance of her being mine after all, he thought before he finally went to sleep.

./././././.

 

A knock at her door woke Sansa up from her sweet dreams, "Ughh, yes?" She groaned out trying to rub her eyes. She rolled over in her bed onto her back, letting out a small hiss from the pain. Her door opened and her mother walked in.

"I just wanted to make sure you were alright, you never sleep in this late sweetie." Her mother walked over to her bed and sat down next to her and started to play with her hair.

"Hmmm, my hip still hurts. I woke up late last night from the pain and stayed up for awhile. But why? What time is it?" Sansa asked while letting out a loud yawn.

"It's almost two in the afternoon."

"Oh my god!" Sansa cried out, and tried to get out of bed while avoiding any movements that could cause her hip to start hurting again.

"I made Belgian waffles and cut up some strawberries for you if you're hungry." Her mother smiled softly, Sansa stood up once she crawled off her bed. 

"That sounds amazing right now, I think I might take a hot shower first though." Sansa yawned and went to her dresser to pick out clean sweat pants and an old concert tee shirt Robb had given her.

"I'll bring you up a plate once you finished." Her mother offered.

"That's alright, I think I'll come downstairs to eat...I don't want to stay locked up in my room all week." Sansa explained softly. Just what was she going to do for the rest of the day? She secretly hoped that TheHound777 would be online today. Even though he could be cranky sometimes, she liked to talk to him.

She frowned, thinking of TheHound777 made her think of Sandor. Who she also missed at the moment, even his crankiness.

Her mother nodded and walked out of her bedroom, Sansa followed her, before turning down the hall and walking into the bathroom she shared with her sister.

While taking a deep breath, she could still smell a faint scent of Mountain Dew from when her sister went crazy. She gazed at her reflection in the mirror and gasped, her lip wasn't as bad as she thought it was going to be...It was still swollen, and there was a light bruise.

Her hip on the other hand, was covered in a deep dark purple bruise. Around the purple bruise, there were yellow splotches running up her waist. Glancing down at her ankle, it wasn't as swollen as her hip, but she had to get a few stitches for her cut. She never had stitches before, and she knew the cut would leave a scar.

Sighing softly she started up the shower, her thoughts drifting back to a man who had a scar on his face, and even with the scar he was still handsome.

./././.

Sandor sat on his couch, he had woken up around one thirty and with nothing else to do, he signed onto the game...Secretly hoping Sansa was online.

He was disappointed to see she wasn't online, but thought about how she must be sleeping or resting..Which was what she really needed over playing a game with him.

Signing off the game, he got up to walk into his kitchen to make some lunch.

As he made himself a turkey sandwich with mayo, lettuce and a light sprinkle of pepper on white bread. He checked his Facebook from his Android smartphone, wondering if Sansa had sent him a message.

Nope, nothing.

Sighing he took a frustrated bite out of his sandwich, I really need to stop thinking about her so damn much, he thought to himself as he licked some mayo off of his lips. 

./././.

Walking downstairs, Sansa's stomach growled. She blushed and made her way into the kitchen where her mother was making her a plate. Sitting down carefully at the dining room table, her mother walked over to her and placed down the plate of waffles and strawberries in front of her.

Her mother sat down in front of her, smiling softly. "Thank you!" Sansa smiled back and started to eat.

Her mother nodded and sighed, "You know..If you are feeling better by Friday...Your father would like to meet the man who brought you home yesterday. We wanted to have a BBQ to thank him properly for helping our daughter." Catelyn explained as Sansa almost choked on a strawberry at the news.

Wait...What?

"Dad wants to meet Sandor?" Sansa asked.

"Yes, but your father also talked to Robert about Joffrey...Since Sandor is Joffrey's bodyguard outside of school, your father would like to know if Sandor knew anything else that Joffrey might have planned to do to you or had told people. If Sandor would be okay with coming here and meeting everyone." Catelyn folded her hands on the table, looking like she was praying and pleading at the same time.

"I can see if he wants to come by..Might make him feel better if he wasn't the only one to come over though. Arya's boyfriend should come over too." Sansa frowned, thinking just how should she bring this up with Sandor.

"That would be a good idea, do they know each other?" Catelyn asked while she watched Sansa nod.

"Yeah, they get along from what I can tell. I mean I don't think they're best friends or anything. Sandor isn't the type of guy who likes having people around him often." Sansa started to stab at a strawberry with her fork.

"Well, tell him we'll have plenty of ribs, hamburgers and other food." Catelyn laughed softly, "Everyone enjoys a good cookout."

"Can I make my egg salad?" Sansa asked while licking her lips, she didn't enjoying eating eggs, but her family loved her egg salad so it was a job of hers to always make it during parties or BBQs.

"If you feel up to it sweetheart. But just so you know, your father will plan to talk to you sometime before the party about what is happening with Joffrey. It could be tonight or tomorrow, I'm not sure." Catelyn looked down at the table again.

"If you know then how come you cannot explain it to me?" Sansa asked softly.

"Because you know your father, and he wants to assure you that you will be safe from now on." Catelyn looked at her, and Sansa forced herself to smile. She was still so nervous about asking Sandor to come over to her house.

"I understand, I think I'm going to go lay down for a little bit." Sansa said softly while standing up slowly. She picked up her plate that still had half a waffle and a few strawberries on it. Her mother stood up and gently took the plate from her hands, letting her know she was going to wrap it up and put it away for her to eat later.

Walking up the stairs slowly Sansa tried thinking of ways to ask him to come over. She didn't want to come off stupid, or come off rude....She licked at her lips, and frowned. This wasn't a date or anything, so she had no idea what to be so nervous about.

Walking into her bedroom, she glanced at her PS3 and TV, but she groaned as she decided to message Sandor first before playing the game. Picking up her laptop from her nightstand, she sat down on her bed and opened it up.

Pulling up Facebook, she checked her old messages. She sighed again, while starting to type out a message to him.

"Hey." She sent to him.

Oh yeah Sansa, such a great way to start a conversation, she thought to herself.

././././.

Sandor sat back on his couch and turned on his system, he signed onto DCUO. He heard his ringtone go off, meaning he had an alert for one of his aps or he had a message.

Pulling the phone out of his pocket, he swiped at the screen with his large thumb.

Sansa Stark sent him a message saying, 'Hey.'.

He frowned but typed back, "Hey. What do you want?"

"Ummm... This might sound weird I guess..."

Leaning forward he bit the inside of his cheeks, was she going to tell him that she thought he was cute? Or that she liked him?

"Well get on with it Little Bird, I haven't got all day." He typed back cursing himself for being too harsh.

"My parents would like to know if you would like to come over to our house this Friday for a BBQ. It'll just be you and Arya's boyfriend Gendry coming over." She typed to him.

"They want to thank you for bringing me home yesterday, but my dad wants to also talk to you..Talk to you about Joffrey, like if he was planning on hurting me again or using people to hurt me. That kind of thing." She sent another message.

Sandor frowned, but then thought about going to his Little Bird's house as a guest and eating their food. Meeting her parents wasn't a big deal, but if he betrayed Joffrey he'd have to find a new job.

Which is what he was planning on doing to begin with, so why not work with Ned Stark and help him? 

Sandor smirked, and began to type back to Sansa.

"I guess I could go, what time?" He waited for her to respond back, which was about a good five minutes.

"Sorry about the wait, I had to ask my mom, she said you could come around three thirty or four. Do you like egg salad?"

Sandor raised an eyebrow, egg salad? It's alright, better eaten as a sandwich though he thought. He knew people who ate it on crackers, and he hated crackers.

"I'll be there then. And egg salad is alright." He typed to her, he started to crack his knuckles as he waited for her response.

"Oh well, my egg salad is the best! Or so I've been told...I'll be making it so you'll have to try it! But there will be ribs and hamburgers too, plus other pasta salads. I'm glad you're coming, I'll be so freaking lonely this week..So now I have something to look forward to besides Monday now! :)"

Sandor smiled, feeling his burnt side of his face twitch. He supposed he now had something to look forward to as well then. Seeing her, and also eating the egg salad she said she was going to make.

"Lol, that's good Little Bird. I'll see you then." He typed back feeling unusual.

Was he nervous?

Nah, fuck that. He was never nervous.

His phone started to ring, and he let out a sigh knowing that his conversation with his Little Bird was being interrupted. 

He swiped his screen to answer the call.

"Hello?"

"DOG! MY FATHER IS TRANSFERRING ME TO A DIFFERENT SCHOOL BECAUSE OF THAT BITCH!" Joffrey screamed into the phone. Sandor had to pull the phone away from his ear because the boy's voice was so loud.

Sandor growled, his Little Bird was not a bitch. No, she was far from it.


	7. Call me.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gendry invites Jaqen to run a raid with them, but there's just one problem..Jaqen and Sandor don't get along.

Signing onto the game, Sansa notices everyone else is already on. She knew Arya would be, since she just got home a few moments ago. Sansa explained to her about Friday and having Sandor coming over to meet Dad, but she asked Arya to also invite Gendry over.

Arya agreed, Gendry could never pass up free food.

"Hey Sansa!" Gendry greeted as she joined their group, "How are you feeling?"

"I'm doing better, thanks. How are you guys doing?" Sansa asked softly.

"Fine." TheHound777 typed.

"It was kind of boring without you there at school today." Hotpie sighed into the mic.

"Awh I'm sorry, I'll be there Monday. Only a few more days." Sansa smiled into the mic, she kind of had a slight feeling Hotpie liked her, but she cared for the guy as her friend.

"We running a raid?" TheHound777 typed out.

Gendry sighed, "YES. Chill dude!" 

"Start fucking grabbing people then." TheHound777 typed out.

"Oh...We're going to do an official raid, like a hard one?" Sansa asked, feeling slightly nervous.

"Yeahhh, don'y worry you'll do fine.. We just need another healer, another controller, and another dps and we'll be good." Arya explained, "Hopefully there won't be any douche bags online tonight, ugh."

Sansa watched as a new player joined their group; LiL SNaZz.

"Yo, what up guys?" A man greeted everyone.

"Hey, whats your vitalization?" Hotpie asked, noticing the guy was another controller.

"1200."

"Alright, mines 1375, I'll throw out the main power over time, you just recharge so we don't overlap one another." Hotpie explained as Sansa took in all this new information.

"Yeah, sure thing." The man replied.

"Uh, Cryptic...Do I need to worry about overlapping with another healer?" Sansa asked softly, Arya already explained to her if they played with strangers, they would call each other by their character's names, not their real ones.

"Woah, a girl? Damn baby, you sound hot as hell." The man chuckled into the mic.

"Watch it." TheHound777 quickly replied back in the chat, but the guy seemed to ignore the chat box.

"No Little Bird, that's only something controllers have to worry about. You won't have any problems overlapping while healing." Hotpie explained.

"So...Little Bird," The man said with an arrogant tone, "What are you wearing?"

"Really dude?!" Arya yelled into her mic. Sansa muted hers, ignoring the guy.

"Oh, another girl?! Damn, we could have a threesome." The man laughed into the mic.

"Dude back the fuck off." Gendry growled out, "I seriously hope you're joking because I can easily replace you."

"Bull, just kick the fucking jerk off from the group!" TheHound777 typed out.

Sansa silently agreed, and was happy when she saw the guy get kicked from Gendry.

"What a dick." Arya grumbled.

"Little Bird..You still there?" TheHound777 typed out. "Don't pay attention to guys like that, there's a lot of them like that who play the game."

Sansa un-muted her mic, "Yeah I'm here guys, I just didn't really want to talk. Just wanted the guy to shut up." She said softly, almost in a whisper.

"I'm reporting him, hold on." Hotpie said.

Sansa watched as another player joined the group; THEFACELESS_MAN.

"Hey Jaqen!" Arya laughed into the mic, Gendry sighed.

"Hello girl, greetings everyone." Jaquen said in his thick accent.

Sansa noticed Jaqen was a healer, she met him once before. He used to live in their neighborhood and one time when Arya had gotten into a fight with a bunch of high school students while she was in middle school, Jaqen came and helped her. He had chased the guys off after breaking one guy's hand without breaking a sweat.

He had taught Arya had to fight, but his father had passed away, so he had to move back with his mother a few years ago. Moving back all the way back to Europe, Arya and Jaqen kept in contact through the game.

Gendry wasn't always happy about it, knowing his girlfriend had a crush on the guy for years. But she was with him, not with Jaqen, so he somehow let go of the jealousy and became friends with Jaqen.

"Oh I did not see that you had the runt with you....We can find someone better, a man has many friends who can easily replace him." Jaqen laughed into his mic.

"Don't fuck with me today dickhead. I'll run whatever Little Bird runs, with or without you." TheHound777 typed out.

Sansa felt herself blush while she read his reply, TheHound just wanted to run with her? He did seem so concerned when that other guy was hitting on her... Sansa licked her lips.

"Oh? You're not using your mic? How odd...Is it because of this Little Bird?" Jaqen laughed again, Arya sighed.

"It broke." TheHound777 replied.

"Oh yes, I'm so sure it's broken." Jaqen replied back, his voice full of sarcasm.

"Guys stop." Sansa felt herself saying.

"Sansa? Ohhhh a man apologizes, he did not know it was you. I hope all is forgiven." Jaqen said into the mic. Sansa sighed softly at the way he talked.

"Just leave TheHound alone, if he's not using his mic..You don't need to ride his ass about it." Sansa growled into the mic, feeling protective over TheHound777.

"Oh, does a girl have feelings for Sa-"Jaqen started to ask, but Arya started coughing extremely loud into the mic.

"Is a girl alright?" Jaqen asked.

Sansa watched as two people joined their group. Another controller, and a Dps. both people didn't have mic symbols near their names; FairestOfTheLand and Youngg Lioness.

She gasped out in pain as she leaned forward, her head started to spin and she felt like she was going to throw up.

"Little Bird? Sis? Sansa!" Arya cried out into the mic, Sansa leaned forward and clutched her head, trying to make the world stop spinning. The headset fell off her head and crashed onto her carpet. Fuck, I forgot to mute it, she thought to herself as tears came to her eyes. She started to sob as the dizziness turned into a sharp migraine.

She heard her sisters footsteps running towards her room, Arya reached down and muted her mic.

Sansa glanced to the TV, trying to make out the words.

"Little Bird?" TheHound777 typed out.

"STFU JAQEN. Sometime is fucking wrong."

"Dude whatever, go fuck yourself."

"Little Bird?!" TheHound777 kept typing, going back and forth from arguing with Jaqen and typing her name.

Arya helped her into the bathroom, she pulled out medication from the cabinet drawer, she gave Sansa the pills, who quickly swallowed them without a drink.

"Why is Jaqen so mean to Sandor?" Sansa mumbled.

"Sandor? What do you mean Sandor?" Arya asked in confusion.

"Oh..I meant TheHound..He's protective like Sandor..." Sansa muttered softly, her head started to feel better and the pain in her hip started to go away.

"They never got along, but Jaqen started it this time, TheHound never really starts a fight with him, Jaqen just likes being an ass sometimes." Arya shrugged.

Sansa sat back in her chair, everyone was still in the group, she put on the headset and heard to men arguing loudly.

"A man can say whatever he wants!" Jaqen said into the mic with annoyance.

"And I bet you would really enjoy my foot up your ass!" 

Sansa gasped as she heard the voice.

She un-muted her mic, "Sandor?!" She cried out, she wasn't sure if she heard correctly..And she wasn't sure if she was upset for everyone knowing and keeping it from her...Or if she was extremely happy that she knew she was right all along.

"Well fuck, there goes the bet!" Gendry cried out as she heard Sandor growl.

"Fuck you Jaqen. Fuck your bet Gendry. Fuck this fucking game." Sandor growled out and signed off.

"What the fuck just happened?!" Arya cried out.

"Sansa heard Sandor arguing with Jaqen...Sandor was really pissed off about something, and Jaqen made it worse and wouldn't back off, so Sandor..Got off for the night I guess.." Hotpie explained, making sure he got his facts right.

Sansa turned off her system, not caring about her sister or her friends at the moment. She wanted to know what was wrong with Sandor.

Grabbing her laptop, she quickly signed into her Facebook account and messaged Sandor, who was offline.

"Hey, why did you get off? I know Jaqen was being a jerk and all, but we could have run some duos or whatever. Now that I know it's you..Which I had a feeling it was this whole time..Omfg I can't believe....Never mind, just call me when you get the chance." Sansa typed out quickly, also typing her number. 

She was freaking out.

She called Sandor cute, to Sandor's face..Without knowing it was Sandor...

She wanted to die, what if he thought she was stupid for saying that?! Or hated her, or thought she was being a bitch and teasing him...Which she wasn't she was being honest.

She laid down on her pillows, clutching her cellphone to her chest, and waited for Sandor to call or text her.


	8. I'll Be There. (Sansa's POV)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ned talks to Sansa as she waits for Sandor to call her.

A soft knock at her bedroom door made her almost jump. She sat up slowly, still clutching her cellphone.

"Come in." Sansa answered, thinking it was her sister.

But she was wrong, it was her father.

Ned smiled softly at his daughter; he walked into her room and quietly shut the door behind him. He walked to her bed and sat down gently, she bit her lip at the slight pain from her hip.

"Can we talk?" Ned asked while slightly frowning.

Sansa looked at her cellphone, and then back towards her dad. She smiled and slowly nodded.

Sighing, Ned raised his arm and ran his hand through his hair, before running it over his face.

"I talked to Robert today about Joffrey, and about what happened to you." Ned started to explain. His daughter had just turned eighteen, and the thought of her being abused in her first relationship for a year sickened him. He felt like he failed as a father; he was hurt, angry, and deeply upset that his daughter had to go through so much pain at such a young age.

Sansa glanced at her father, she could see that he was lost in his thoughts. He must have felt her stare, because he looked back at her and tried to smile back.

"Cersei was yelling in the background that she didn't believe it, she thought you framed Joffrey and just wanted attention. Robert had yelled at her; and he had told me he would get to the bottom of this."

Ned sighed again.

"He had called me back earlier today; they had taken away Joffrey's cellphone and checked his text messages. He had sent some to a few girls about what happened yesterday, asking if the plan worked and how he would repay them back with whatever they wanted just as he had promised them."

Sansa felt like she was choking, taking a deep breath she tried to calm her nerves from Sandor still not calling her back, and the news of Joffrey actually being involved with her beating. Ned started to rub her back gently as he cleared his throat.

"Robert had called the school, him and Varys had a long talk. Robert had let Varys know that his son was behind all of this, he knew which girls were involved and he had proof. Robert...Robert then decided to pull Joffrey out of the school; because Varys had threatened to suspend Joffrey for the rest of the school year. Robert is placing him in an all boys boarding school that is located three hours away from here."

Sansa felt tears falling down her face, tears of relief.

"That bastard won't hurt you anymore Sansa, I promise." Ned said as he pulled his daughter in a warm hug. She started to cry in his chest as he kissed her head to try to calm her down.

"Is that man....Sandor still coming on Friday?" Ned asked as Sansa calmed herself down.

She shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know, I've been waiting for him to call me." Sansa whispered as she looked down at her phone.

"Well if he does, I'm sure he's heard of whats happening with Joffrey. Cersei had given Joffrey back his phone for the time being. We already blocked his number from contacting yours. I just hope this man...Sandor can be trusted." Ned glared at the wall, as Sansa just licked her lips and sighed softly.

"He hates Joffrey."

"That may be, but his mother pays him..And pays him well. If that man knows something that Joffrey could be up to, just in spite or revenge, I want to be the first to know. I won't let any man or anyone hurt you again." Ned clenched his jaw.

Sansa didn't know what to say, but she hugged her dad lightly and kissed his cheek.

"Thanks Dad." Sansa smiled softly, Ned smiled back in return.

They both jumped as they heard RIckon screaming from downstairs, and Catelyn yelling about 'this is what happens when you run in the house'. Ned sighed and stood up, looking back at his daughter he laughed.

"Better make sure Rickon is alright." 

Sansa giggled and watched her father open her door and closing it behind him, leaving her in silence.

She hated the silence.

Sighing she laid down on her back, she looked at her ceiling. She knew Sandor was TheHound, she had such a gut feeling about it. It made her frustrated that no one had told her; not even Sandor himself who always said he would never lie to her.

Well he didn't lie to me technically, he just kept a secret from me. She thought to herself while frowning.

Maybe he's shy? He was never the one to talk much....

She hoped he wouldn't quit playing the game, it would be awesome to talk to him over the mic, instead of waiting for him to type back. 

And I'm sure as hell, he would enjoy cursing out people while being on the mic. She giggled at the thought.

He had the type of voice that would make her body shiver, it was hoarse and raspy. She secretly loved the way he called her Little Bird. She heard him yell before and get angry of course, but he sounded hotter over the mic. As long as he wasn't yelling at her, she didn't mind it at all. She loved to hear his voice; even if he was angry.

She jumped as she felt her phone vibrate next to her.

Sitting up, she picked up the phone and glanced at the number. It was a number she didn't recognize, but it had the same area code as her.

Was it Sandor? 

If it was..Should she answer it?

Biting her lip, she groaned and shook her head. Gathering up the courage she swiped her screen and answered the call.

"Hello?" She answered, licking her lips she put a hand over her stomach to try and calm her nerves.

"Didn't think you would answer Little Bird." Sandor replied back, she could hear the sneer in his voice and could picture him scowling.

"I...I was talking to my dad...About Joffrey." Sansa replied back, almost tripping over her words. Why am I so freaking nervous?! Ughhh...She thought to herself as she leaned back again to lay down.

"Oh so you heard the news?"

"You know? You know about Joffrey being transferred?"

"Of course I know; the dickhead called me while we were talking before on Facebook, about Friday." He growled out.

"Oh...How did that go?"

"You don't want to know Little Bird, he's an asshole and he can protect himself from now on."

"Wait, what do you mean?" She asked as she bit her lip.

"I fucking quit, that's what I mean. I'm fucking done being that little shit's bodyguard as he fucking picks on little girls like you." Sandor snapped into the phone.

Sansa flinched at his tone, she heard something like glass breaking in the background.

"I'm not a little girl..." Sansa started to say without thinking. Sandor laughed into the phone.

"Oh of course not. You're just a silly Little Bird." Sandor mocked.

Sansa felt tears burning her eyes, but she quickly wiped them away, why was he being so cruel to her?

"I guess.." She sniffed, trying to calm herself down.

Sandor became quiet, she heard a light "Fuck me." under his breath before he sighed.

"Look, this might be a bad time...But I don't think I can make it Friday." Sandor said in a defeated tone.

"What?! Why?!" Sansa sat up quickly, once again forgetting about her hip. She let out a large cry in pain and dropped her phone onto the bed. "Ughh! Fuck." She cried out and rubbed her hip softly.

She picked up her phone and held it back to her ear.

"Sorry, I dropped the phone." She cried softly.

"I thought as much, are you...Are you alright Little Bird?" Sandor's voice changed completely...He was using the same tone of voice he used towards her when he brought her home, the gentle tone she loved so much.

"No..No, Not really..Why are you not coming Friday..I was looking forward to seeing you." Sansa wiped away her tears, her hip was throbbing.

"Are you crying?"

"..Maybe.."

"Over me not coming or over the pain?"

"...Both..Maybe..I don't know!" Sansa sighed softly, and sniffed.

Sandor sighed into the phone.

"Little Bird..." He sighed again, "Alright..Stop crying..I'll be there."

"Promise. Promise me you'll be there." Sansa wiped away her tears, she softly licked her lips.

"I promise you Little Bird, I'll be there."

"Good."

An awkward silence filled the air, Sansa had stopped crying after Sandor promised her that he would show up to the BBQ.

"So how did Joffrey react to you quitting?" Sansa asked softly.

Sandor chuckled, "He told me I couldn't quit. I told him he could go fuck himself."

Sansa laughed along with Sandor.

"At one point I thought he was actually crying. What a fucking pussy, he's too stupid to know that I never fucking liked him to beging with." Sandor rasped into the phone.

Sansa smiled into the phone, she scratched at her healing lip.

"He's being transferred to an all boys boarding school."

"Aye, he's blaming you for it."

"Me?"

Sandor grunted, "He tried to, called you a stupid bitch as well."

"But I..I had nothing to do with it! If he hadn't hired or suggested those girls to gang up on me..He wouldn't have been pulled out form the school!" Sansa frowned, how the hell could she have ever thought she was in love with that maniac?

"He paid them. He admitted to it, only because I threatened him to tell me the truth. I threatened him once again after he told the truth. Also told him, none of this wouldn't have happened if he would've just left you alone." Sandor growled.

"Oh..I bet he didn't like that.." Sansa started to twirl her hair between her fingers.

"He sure as hell didn't." Sandor chuckled, "He flipped out, saying I can't do anything to him. But I told him exactly what I would do to him, not what I could do." Sandor growled again.

She shivered at his tone of voice.

"What..What are you going to do to him?"

"That's for me to know, and for you to never know. I'm not a good person Little Bird, you know this. Can't understand why the hell you would think a guy like me is cute. The fuck." Sandor snapped.

Sansa blushed at his words, well she didn't think that would be brought up so quickly.

"I uh..I didn't know that was really you playing the game with us..." Sansa said softly.

"It's fine, I know you didn't mean it." Sandor laughed darkly.

"No! I was being honest. You are..Cute."

"What the fuck is so cute about me?"

"Why can't you just take a freaking a compliment!" Sansa snapped into the phone.

"Ahh, there's the spitfire. Little Bird has talons." Sandor chuckled into the phone.

"Your eyes, your hair. Your face..." Sansa said softly into the phone.

"What?"

"You asked what was so cute about you! I'm telling you!" Sansa laughed, she was blushing but she might as well be honest.

"How the fuck is my face cute? Are you fucking blind?"

"Shut uppppppp, are you that blind? Are you deaf? I know you're not stupid." Sansa teased.

Sandor growled, "Watch it girl."

"Oh..I'm back to 'girl' now." Sansa laughed softly. "What took you so long to call me?"

"I was filling out applications, might as well try to find a new job instead of playing a game." Sandor explained, he wasn't really sure if Sansa had lost her mind after everything that happened to her. He was not fucking cute, he wasn't a stuffed toy. He was a man, and men aren't cute. Boys are cute.

He growled softly while shaking his head. 

"Oh, will you be playing tonight?"

"Might be..Could be.."

"Well let me know if you do, I'll play too. It's boring with out you." 

"Hmmm."

"My Dad doesn't trust you." Sansa said softly. "He still wants to talk to you I think Friday."

"He has good reasons not to trust me, don't know why you do." Sandor growled.

"Because you helped me, more than once."

"I'm no hero girl, stop making me out to be like one." Sandor snapped. "I'm not like one of those guys in those fucking fairy tales."

"I learned a long time ago that fairy tales are full of shit."

"Well about about those fucking romance songs? I'm not like those assholes who are in those damn songs."

"If I hear one more love song I'll be sick." Sansa replied.

"....Isn't that from some kind of song? Are you just chirping lyrics?" Sandor asked in a confused tone of voice.

"Might be...Could be.." Sansa replied back, teasing him.

"Oh you're going to get it." Sandor growled playfully.

Sansa giggled in return, her cheeks hurt from smiling so much.

"Oh, Little Bird..Joffrey did threaten to do shit to your car Monday. Even if tomorrow is his last day at the school he can still pay someone to do shit. I'll be driving you back and forth from school next week, until I know nothing will happen."

"Wait..What? What about work..And Arya?"

"I'm not fucking driving your sister, Gendry can drive her. And I guess I'll fucking take you to work too."

"You know, they might be hiring, the pay isn't as good. But it's fun to work with the animals at the shelter." Sansa bit her lip as she heard Sandor sigh.

"I'll try to put in an application, not a lot of places will hire someone with a mug like mine." Sandor sighed, "Might have to trade in Stranger for a different car."

"I love your truck though." Sansa said sadly as she frowned.

"As do I, but if I can't fucking pay off the damn thing, what the fuck else am I supposed to do?" Sandor cracked his knuckles in frustration.

He also had rent and bills to pay, and also food.

Sansa laid on her bed, trying to think, the shelter didn't pay that well. And they only hired part time. It suddenly clicked in her head.

"Maybe if my dad likes you...Maybe he can convince his brother to hire you at his tattoo shop or something. My cousin Jon works there too, I think you met him a few times. But at a tattoo shop, no one really judges looks there. And lately their business has been really booming, so I'm sure they could use the help."

"I don't know hot to fucking tattoo someone!" He snapped at her.

"I'm not saying that! But maybe they could use your help with cleaning up their stations or running the office and making appointments, I don't know. I'll see if my dad knows anything about it." Sansa bit her lip, it was worth a shot anyways.

Sandor sighed into the phone, "Whatever you say little bird."

Sansa giggled into the phone.

"So how come you didn't tell me it was you on the game?"

"Your sister told me not to."

"Since when do you listen to her?"

"..Good point.." Sandor growled, but chuckled lightly.

"Why does Jaqen hate you so much?"

"Because I hate your sister."

"You don't hate her."

"I fucking hate her Little Bird, she's an annoying little bitch."

"You're lying. You said you would never lie to me." Sansa pouted.

"Fine..I don't hate her as much as I hate Joffrey or Jaqen, or you." Sandor teased.

"Awhh, why do you hate me?" Sansa cried into the phone, it sounded like he was teasing, but she really hoped he didn't hate her.

"Because."

"..Because...?" Sansa bit her lip, maybe he really did hate her..

Sandor sighed, "Fine, I don't fucking hate you Little Bird, I could never hate you." He said really quickly.

Sansa blinked, taking in what he said.

She laughed and smiled to herself.

"I knew you didn't hate me!" She teased as she heard Sandor sigh again.

"Whatever Little Bird, I have to get back to filling out applications, I'll text you if I'll be signing on again tonight..Alright?"

Sansa nodded, but then felt extremely stupid because Sandor couldn't see her.

"Okay! If not, call or text me tomorrow. I've been so bored, you have no idea." Sansa giggled, just one more day she thought to herself, after tomorrow he'll be here! She giggled some more.

"What are you giggling about?" Sandor chuckled into the phone.

"Oh, no reason..." Sansa teased.

"Hmm, I'm sure, well see yeah Little Bird, take it easy with your hip." Sandor said softly, he wasn't used to saying goodbye. He would just hang up on Joffrey whenever the dick head would call him.

"Alright..Bye Sandor talk to you later." Sansa said softly, wishing Sandor didn't have to go.

"Later." He said before he hung up the phone.

She smiled as she stared at the phone, she felt excited and nervous. Her heart was pounding in her chest, she quickly saved Sandor's number in her contacts as 'TheHound<3'. 

Frowning, now all she needed was a picture of Sandor so his picture would pop up whenever he called or texted her. It felt so odd, having a crush again she thought to herself. She took a deep breath, it wasn't like they were together or anything, and she didn't want to rush into anything just yet..She still wanted to get to know Sandor.

Hell..He might not even like her as she likes him. She shrugged at her thoughts, at least she would be spending more time with him as he would be driving her back and forth.

She frowned, he better let me pay for gas now that he doesn't have his job anymore..Maybe I should treat him to some burgers or something after school..Sansa licked her lips, she hadn't felt this good in a long time, in a really long time.

She was so glad not to feel alone anymore.


	9. I'll Be There. (Sandor's POV)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Same conversation as last chapter but in Sandor's POV.  
> Also more about Sandor's past and his family. Yay. My emotions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tomorrow is the big day! I shall also update tomorrow as well ^_^  
> I hope you all enjoy this chapter, I find that Sandor's mind is such a fun place.

Sandor read the message he received from Sansa over Facebook.

"Hey, why did you get off? I know Jaqen was being a jerk and all, but we could have run some duos or whatever. Now that I know it's you..Which I had a feeling it was this whole time..Omfg I can't believe....Never mind, just call me when you get the chance."

He read it again, and again. She wanted him to call her? Was she out of her mind?

Fucking hell, he didn't know what the fuck to do. He'll never admit it, but he was fucking embarrassed that Sansa found out the truth while he was arguing with Jaqen. He felt like an ass, but Sansa thought Jaqen was the one being a jerk.

Sansa wanted him, to fucking call her.

What the hell was he going to do? For once in his life Sandor was conflicted, he was angry. He was more than angry, Joffrey had called him and they had gotten into a very large argument, leaving him unemployed and Joffrey fearing for his life. Sansa's father wanted to meet him and probably fucking try to intimidate him, now he was rethinking of even going to that damn bbq. Then he tries to play the game to calm himself down and enjoy himself, but no. Jaqen had to be invited into the group and start his shit.

And Sansa had to witness it.

She was also harrasssed by that other scum bag.

This was just not a fucking good day, and his anger just kept building. How the hell was he supposed to talk to her with all this pent up frustration? Sandor sighed and decided to take a drive to calm himself down.

He left his apartment, got into his truck and headed down towards a lake that was nearby. His grandfather had owned a part of the lakefront, he never built anything on it. But he used to take Sandor to the lake when Gregor or his father would get into an argument with him.

Sandor loved his grandfather, he was the only one who didn't lie about what happened to his face. And he wasn't afraid of Gregor, even though Gregor was his grandchild, he hated him. Even more so when Gregor had killed Sandor's little sister Eveline. When Sandor's mother passed away, Sandor's grandfather fought for custody over Sandor and had won. He had taken Sandor for skin treatments for his face and helped with restraining orders against Gregor.

Whenever Sandor was angry or conflicted, his grandfather would take him to the lake, to fish or just to sit at the docks.

He never tried to force Sandor to talk to him with whatever was bothering him, he had always waited for Sandor to open up when he relaxed and calmed down.

They would sit at the dock, listening to birds, or the water hitting the bank softly. Sometimes they would sit and watch the sunset together and stare up at the stars together. Sandor was named after his grandfather, and he took pride in it. He thought his grandfather was a great, strong and brave man; unlike his own father.

He wanted to be like his grandfather, wise but gentle, fierce but honest.

Sandor sat down at the dock, looking at his initials of his name he carved into the wood when he was just a boy. HIs grandfather had done the same, S.C. and S.C., one large carving and one small one.

Sandor smiled softly and gazed upon the sky, he didn't believe in any god. 

When his grandfather had died a few years ago, Sandor's world collapsed. He didn't know what to do. He became angry with the world for taking away the one person who he thought actually gave a damn about him. 

Now a girl cared about him, Sansa Stark. And he didn't know what to do. He knew nothing about girls, and he wished with all his might that his grandfather was still around to give him advice. He didn't remember his grandmother all that well, but his grandfather always talked about her with such love and devotion. His grandfather was a loyal man, once his grandmother passed away there was no other women for him, besides his daughter and his granddaughter. But they were stolen from him.

Sandor watched as a few fish swim by, they looked like bass but he wasn't sure.

Birds were chirping and Sandor frowned, his thoughts kept drifting back to Sansa, his Little Bird. 

She's not mine, he thought to himself in frustration.

Just because some girl called him cute, didn't mean she was his, just because she smiled at him didn't mean she was his. She wasn't his, she would never be his. He kept thinking to himself while closing his eyes.

He felt a gust of wind blow by and graze his skin. He shivered slightly.

He knew he had to call her, but he wasn't going to allow himself to get his hopes up that the girl liked him or wanted to be his. If he did, he would only hurt himself in the end.

Spitting into the water, just as he used to do as a child, he got up and decided he would also tell her that he wouldn't be going to her house on Friday. It wasn't a good idea for him to be around her, he was torturing himself enough with just playing a stupid online game with her.

 

./././.

He arrived back at his place, not feeling any better about the situation..But he felt less angry then he did before. Sitting down on his black leather couch, he took his cellphone out of his pocket and decided to call Sansa.

After a couple of rings, he thought she wasn't going to answer until he heard a light voice, "Hello?"

He felt his groin stir at the sound of her voice, sounding so innocent. God damn, what was this girl doing to him?

"Didn't think you were going to answer Little Bird." He licked his lips, it was the honest truth. He didn't understand why such a perfect girl would want anything to do with a monster like him.

"I..I was talking to my Dad about Joffrey." She replied back.

Sandor thought back to Joffrey's shrill voice screaming at him over the phone after he defended Sansa, saying that she wasn't the one who was being the little bitch and crying over the phone about being transferred. Sandor almost destroyed his cellphone after the argument, he fought back his anger to throw his phone and punch the fucking walls.

"Oh so you heard the news?" He growled as he remembered threatening the asshole if he ever looked at Sansa again, let alone touch her. He promised he would break his jaw, not caring if he had to go to jail. He didn't care if he beat the shit out of him until he killed the fucker, no one would ever hurt his Little Bird again.

He stopped his thoughts again.

She was not his.

"You know? You know about Joffrey being transferred?"

Did she just want him to call her so she can talk about the fucking jerk off? He wasn't going to sit here all night and listen to her being afraid of the dickwad.

"Of course I know; the dickhead called me while we were talking before on Facebook, about Friday." Of course Joffrey had called him when he was making plans with the Little Bird. He actually had something he could enjoy this weekend, well had was the keyword now that he decided not to go.  
"Oh...How did that go?" She asked softly.

Sandor bit the inside of his cheek, trying not to snap at Sansa. He didn't want to talk about fucking Joffrey.

"You don't want to know Little Bird, he's an asshole and he can protect himself from now on." Just take the hint and stop asking me about it, Sandor screamed inside his head. He was having one hell of a time holding back his snide comments.

"Wait, what do you mean?" She asked again in her soft innocent tone of voice.

God damn it, this girl was going to be the death of him.

"I fucking quit, that's what I mean. I'm fucking done being that little shit's bodyguard as he fucking picks on little girls like you." Sandor snapped without thinking. Well fuck, I just fucking fucked things up. He snarled, wanting to throw his cellphone so he couldn't talk to her anymore. So he couldn't hurt her with his words and comments.

He got up and instead of throwing his phone, he picked up his empty beer bottle and threw it against one of his walls. It shattered on impact, some of the glass stuck into the wall. 

Fuck it, he would clean it up later.

"I'm not a little girl..." She said softly into the phone after a pause. He knew she must have heard the beer bottle breaking against his wall. He couldn't care less at the moment.

"Oh of course not. You're just a silly Little Bird." He snapped again, walking back to his couch and sitting down. He threw one of the pillows off his couch. It landed across the room, smashing into what he assumed another beer bottle.

"I guess.." She replied back, sounding like she was going to start crying.

"Fuck me." He whispered, well if he was going to make her cry by just calling her silly, he might as well make her fucking cry by telling her about Friday. He bit his tongue, it was better this was he thought to himself as he closed his eyes. "Look, this might be a bad time...But I don't think I can make it Friday." He explained softly, he heard a sob.

"What?! Why?!" He heard her raise her voice in a panicked tone..She then heard her scream in agony. Sandor sat up, clutching his cellphone to his good ear. "Sansa?" He whispered, she heard her break out into sobs, crying.

"Ughh! Fuck." He heard her yell, he felt guilty causing her pain. He flinched at the sound of her sobs, it reminded him or when his mother or his sister would cry. He growled, punching himself in his thigh for making the Little Bird cry.

"Sorry, I dropped the phone." She cried softly, he bit his lip until he tasted blood. Just stop. Stop crying he kept thinking to himself as he grabbed a fistful of his own hair wanting to pull it out.

"I thought as much, are you...Are you alright Little Bird?" He asked as he felt his voice waver, he was worried about her, her being in pain from her hip and from him causing her pain because of his rash decision.

"No..No, Not really..Why are you not coming Friday..I was looking forward to seeing you." She sniffed into the phone, Sandor shook his head. He wanted her to just stop crying. He never knew it would make his chest hurt by the sound of her crying, he felt fucking terrible. He was the reason she was crying, it was all his fault and he couldn't be there to hold her and make things better.

Not that he was sure she would want him to hold her.

"Are you crying?" He asked, fucking punching the couch cushion beside him. Of course she was crying, he cursed himself. He was such an idiot. 

"..Maybe.." She said softly, sniffing again. He felt like such shit.

"Over me not coming or over the pain?" He asked softly, he wanted to know the truth. Even though he thought he knew the truth.

"...Both..Maybe..I don't know!" She cried out, sighing softly.

He sighed loudly, what the fuck he could do to fix this?

Well besides keeping his word and actually going to her house on Friday. Making up his mind, he decided he would do whatever it took to make her happy.

"Little Bird..." He sighed again maybe he shouldn't call her that anymore, "Alright..Stop crying..I'll be there." He said softly, just stop crying he thought to himself.

"Promise. Promise me you'll be there." She said softly in a demanding tone. He smirked at her response. 

"I promise you Little Bird, I'll be there." He nodded softly, he would keep his word. If she wanted to see him so badly, so be it. Anything to make her smile, Joffrey made her cry enough in her lifetime. He vowed to himself to never make her cry again.

"Good." She responded back, he almost laughed at her tone.

A silence fell between them, Sandor felt his anger dissolve into thin air, he was so worried about his Little Bird. He smiled softly, feeling his face twitch..Maybe just maybe she could calm his anger within him. He sighed softly, no the only person who could calm the rage within him was himself. He learned a long time ago not to depend on others.

"So how did Joffrey react to you quitting?" She asked softly, he rolled his eyes but if she wanted to talk about her ex, then whatever. He wouldn't scold her for it.

Thinking back to the conversation earlier with the punk he chuckled, "He told me I couldn't quit. I told him he could go fuck himself." The brat wanted to control everything, just like his twat of his mother.

He heard her laugh at what he said, it warmed him to know that he made her laugh. So he continued talking about her shithead of an ex.

"At one point I thought he was actually crying. What a fucking pussy, he's too stupid to know that I never fucking liked him to begin with." He rasped into the phone, he knew he was one of the few people Joffrey actually feared. He had always insulted Joffrey to his face, but the idiot always took the insults as jokes.

"He's being transferred to an all boys boarding school." She said softly. He thought back to Joffrey screaming about Loras and Renly going to that school, freaking out that he was going to be surrounded by a bunch of faggots. Sandor actually knew Renly and Loras, he couldn't give a shit if they were gay or not. If anything Joffrey was the faggot, and Sandor had told him that. That even queers had bigger balls then him, Joffrey had screamed into the phone and sounded like he sobbed as well. 

"Aye, he's blaming you for it." He growled, anything bad that happened to him, Joffrey always blamed Sansa for it. Even if she had nothing to do with it. And in this case, she was the victim, not him. Joffrey had started this mess, Sansa just wanted to be left alone.

"Me?" She asked softly, Sandor felt his throat tighten. 

He grunted thinking back to Joffrey's words, even though it pissed him off, "He tried to, called you a stupid bitch as well." Joffrey is the only little bitch around here, he thought to himself. Sansa was nothing close to a bitch, she was a sweet girl.

"But I..I had nothing to do with it! If he hadn't hired or suggested those girls to gang up on me..He wouldn't have been pulled out form the school!" She cried into the phone. 

Sandor knew all of this, and he wished he could have been there to prevent it from ever happening.

"He paid them. He admitted to it, only because I threatened him to tell me the truth. I threatened him once again after he told the truth. Also told him, none of this wouldn't have happened if he would've just left you alone." He snapped, Joffrey had always spilled the truth whenever he was afraid.

"Oh..I bet he didn't like that.." She responded, Sandor laughed at her tone of voice.

"He sure as hell didn't." He chuckled wishing he could have seen Joffrey's face as he threatened him, "He flipped out, saying I can't do anything to him. But I told him exactly what I would do to him, not what I could do." That I would break his ribs, I was going to crush them one by one and gag him. I would break his nose to the point it couldn't be fixed correctly and it would forever look terrible. The he would break his fingers, dislocate his shoulders. Make him a fucking cripple. Bust he kneecaps so he couldn't walk for months. 

He would fuck him up if he ever hurt his Little Bird again.

"What..What are you going to do to him?" She asked, almost like she knew what he was thinking.

"That's for me to know, and for you to never know. I'm not a good person Little Bird, you know this. Can't understand why the hell you would think a guy like me is cute. The fuck." 

He snapped, thinking about changing the subject, putting her on the spot for what she had told him the day before. 

Maybe she would take back what she said now that she knew the truth.

"I uh..I didn't know that was really you playing the game with us..." She said softly.

"It's fine, I know you didn't mean it." He laughed deeply, his feelings slightly hurt. He knew he shouldn't have gotten so attached to the damn girl, knowing she probably regrets calling him cute.

"No! I was being honest. You are..Cute." 

What the hell was wrong with this girl? He thought, has she seen my scars?

"What the fuck is so cute about me?" He snapped, it wasn't his face. Maybe his body, but he didn't want a girl to just like him for his body. He wanted someone to like him, for being himself.

"Why can't you just take a freaking a compliment!" She snapped into the phone, Sandor smirked at her response. Maybe he was just stubborn, but he liked being stubborn. And besides, no one else had ever really giving him a compliment..Well besides calling his dick big. But he didn't take that as a compliment, everything about him was big.

"Ahh, there's the spitfire. Little Bird has talons." He laughed at her temper, he kind of liked this side of her. The feisty side of little innocent Sansa.

"Your eyes, your hair. Your face..." She started to ramble.

His eyes? His black hair? His..His fucking face? Was this girl high from her medication?

"What?" He asked, not believing what he was hearing.

"You asked what was so cute about you! I'm telling you!" She giggled.

"How the fuck is my face cute? Are you fucking blind?" He growled, was this a jape of hers? 

"Shut uppppppp, are you that blind? Are you deaf? I know you're not stupid." She teased.

Oh she was going to get it, he growled, "Watch it girl."

"Oh..I'm back to 'girl' now." She giggled but changed the subject. "What took you so long to call me?"

He had to think quickly, he didn't want her to know the truth of him going to a lake to think about his dead grandfather and to calm himself down.

"I was filling out applications, might as well try to find a new job instead of playing a game." He explained, he thought Sansa had lost her mind calling him cute. He felt slightly guilty that he lied to her, but maybe one day he would show her the lake. Only if she was to be his, that was he peaceful place, the only place in the world where he felt at ease.

"Oh, will you be playing tonight?" She asked softly. He closed his eyes and thought of her biting her bottom lip. Those damn kissable lips, he thought to himself.

"Might be..Could be.." He teased, maybe he should start filling out applications, he did in fact need a new job.

"Well let me know if you do, I'll play too. It's boring with out you." She responded. Likewise, he thought to himself. He loved hearing her voice over the headset and now he could talk back to her instead of fucking typing all the time.

"Hmmm." He thought to himself, at least now he knew that she still wanted to play the game with him and her sister and their loser friends.

"My Dad doesn't trust you." She started to say. "He still wants to talk to you I think Friday."

Good for fucking Ned Stark, he thought to himself, at least someone in that family has sense.

"He has good reasons not to trust me, don't know why you do." He growled softly, he wasn't a good person. He always fucked everything up.

"Because you helped me, more than once." She said quietly.

"I'm no hero girl, stop making me out to be like one." He snapped, thinking she only liked him because she thought of him like a romantic King or knight. "I'm not like one of those guys in those fucking fairy tales."

"I learned a long time ago that fairy tales are full of shit." She snapped back, oh there was the fiestyness he loved.

"Well about about those fucking romance songs? I'm not like those assholes who are in those damn songs." He teased, wanting to hear her snap again. He raised his eyebrows, man he's such a sick fuck. Getting a rise out of a girl getting pissed at him.

"If I hear one more love song I'll be sick." She replied back, then it clicked in his head..Wasn't that from a song?

"....Isn't that from some kind of song? Are you just chirping lyrics?" He asked in a confused tone of voice. Was she..Was she fucking with him? What a sneaky Little Bird. He chuckled lightly.

"Might be...Could be.." She replied, mocking the same words he had spoken to her. She had talons indeed he laughed softly.

"Oh you're going to get it." He growled playfully, wishing he was near her now so he could put her in her place. Lay her down, and bite those lips of hers. Fuck, he thought, if he kept thinking these thoughts of her he'd be up all night. He's going to have to take a cold shower after this conversation. He frowned at the bulge in his pants.

He decided to change the subject.

"Oh, Little Bird..Joffrey did threaten to do shit to your car Monday. Even if tomorrow is his last day at the school he can still pay someone to do shit. I'll be driving you back and forth from school next week, until I know nothing will happen." Even though he knew Joffrey wouldn't be doing anything to her car now that he threatened him. He wouldn't pass up the opportunity to spend more time with her...Alone.

"Wait..What? What about work..And Arya?" She asked in a conflicted tone.

"I'm not fucking driving your sister, Gendry can drive her. And I guess I'll fucking take you to work too." Fucking she wolf, he thought. He wouldn't take her anywhere in his fucking truck, she'd break something.

"You know, they might be hiring, the pay isn't as good. But it's fun to work with the animals at the shelter." She said softly, he sighed. He knew she was just trying to help him, but he couldn't possibly make enough money and pay off his bills by working there.

"I'll try to put in an application, not a lot of places will hire someone with a mug like mine." He sighed, "Might have to trade in Stranger for a different car." Thinking of the future and being unemployed almost frightened him. He loved his truck, but at the moment he regretted even buying the damn thing.

"I love your truck though." She said sadly.

"As do I, but if I can't fucking pay off the damn thing, what the fuck else am I supposed to do?" He cracked his knuckles trying to calm down, the truck also ate up a lot of gas money, gas money he didn't have anymore.

"Maybe if my dad likes you...Maybe he can convince his brother to hire you at his tattoo shop or something. My cousin Jon works there too, I think you met him a few times. But at a tattoo shop, no one really judges looks there. And lately their business has been really booming, so I'm sure they could use the help." She explained slowly and softly. It would be pretty cool to work at a tattoo shop, he thought. 

"I don't know hot to fucking tattoo someone!" He snapped, he didn't want to get his or her hopes up about a job.

"I'm not saying that! But maybe they could use your help with cleaning up their stations or running the office and making appointments, I don't know. I'll see if my dad knows anything about it." She said in frustration.

If she had hope then he could have hope as well, plus he didn't want to argue with her anymore. He sighed softly, "Whatever you say Little Bird."

"So how come you didn't tell me it was you on the game?" She asked in a playful tone.

"Your sister told me not to." He shrugged, that and he was nervous. Possibly shy. But he would never say that out loud.

"Since when do you listen to her?" She giggled.

"..Good point.." He growled, but laughed with her. Arya usually had some crazy plans, and they always got herself on trouble. He smirked, Arya was a hard person to hate. He had tried but the little bitch wormed her way into his life, and he would do anything to protect her as well. He didn't fancy her like he did Sansa, Arya reminded him a lot of himself. The bitch could take care of herself, and she also had her boyfriend to protect her. 

Jaqen used to protect her, that jackass. He was too protective of her for Sandor's taste.

"Why does Jaqen hate you so much?" She asked. 

"Because I hate your sister." Because I insult her, yell empty threats towards her, talk down to her. He laughed lightly, it felt odd to enjoy himself talking to Sansa over the phone. He never talked to a girl before over the phone, besides Cersei or his family.

"You don't hate her." She stated. Smart girl, he thought to himself while grinning.

"I fucking hate her Little Bird, she's an annoying little bitch." He lied, well Arya was pretty annoying at times.

"You're lying. You said you would never lie to me." She pouted. God damn it, he could imagine her pouting lips. He licked his own lips at the thought.

"Fine..I don't hate her as much as I hate Joffrey or Jaqen, or you." He teased, trying to distract himself from dirty thoughts.

"Awhh, why do you hate me?" She cried into the phone.

"Because." Because you're so fucking adorable, because if I get the chance I'll probably ruin you. He frowned at his thoughts.

"..Because...?" She asked.

He sighed, "Fine, I don't fucking hate you Little Bird, I could never hate you." He said really quickly. Fucking girl, he thought to himself. He could never really hate her, even if she tore out his heart from his chest and destroyed it. Even if she ever hated him, he would always have a soft spot for her.

"I knew you didn't hate me!" She teased. He sighed, picturing her on a bed playing her her hair. He bit his lip, she really had no idea the power she had over him. And he really needed to take care of his massive boner. Fuck she makes me like this just from talking to her over the phone, what the fuck is my body going to do if I ever got the chance to kiss her. He growled at his thoughts.

"Whatever Little Bird, I have to get back to filling out applications, I'll text you if I'll be signing on again tonight..Alright?" He wasn't planning on calling her back, texting her maybe. 

Maybe after he finished with his shower.

"Okay! If not, call or text me tomorrow. I've been so bored, you have no idea."She giggled .

"What are you giggling about?" He chuckled into the phone, she was just so cute. She was the cute one, not him. He was just an ugly beast of a dog, and she was an innocent, fragile little bird.

"Oh, no reason..." She teased.

"Hmm, I'm sure, well see yeah Little Bird, take it easy with your hip." Sandor said softly, he wasn't used to saying goodbye. He would just hang up on Joffrey whenever the dick head would call him. He wasn't used to talking anyone really over the phone, he hated it. He didn't mind talking to her though, it was still awkward..But maybe she would want to talk to him again.

"Alright..Bye Sandor talk to you later." She said softly, He almost flinched as she said his name. He liked hearing his name coming from her lips. 

"Later." He said before he hung up the phone. He stood up from his couch and ignored the broken glass on the floor and on his wall. Forgot about that, he thought and chuckled darkly. Walking into his bathroom, he stripped off his boots and clothes and started the shower. Stepping into the shower, he thought about Sansa once more before getting rid of his erection.

Damn girl, he thought to himself. Once he finished, he washed his body and his hair. He let the warm water hit his back, helping him relax. He didn't like his water to be that hot, he never liked the feeling of the hot water on his skin.

He preferred luke-warm water or cold water.

After the warm water turned cold, he turned the knob, shutting off the water. He stepped out of the shower, grabbing a towel off the rack. He dried himself off, but left his hair damp. He frowned at his reflection in the mirror.

Just what the fuck did that Little Bird see in him? He growled softly.


	10. Barbecue [Part One]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Walking slowly, he took a deep breath to calm his nerves. He rang the doorbell, he heard a few dogs barking in the background.
> 
> The door opened, a man looked up at him, he had a short beard, and semi-long hair.
> 
> "Ah, you must be Sandor. I'm Sansa's father, Eddard Stark." The man, Eddard, reached out his arm towards him. Sandor nodded and reached out with his empty hand, he shook Eddard's hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really not happy with how this chapter turned out.  
> But eh, here it is! The first part of the barbecue! It might be split up into three parts.. Next update should be up by this weekend! ^_^

The halls echoed with students laughing and talking. Everyone was in bright spirits, simply because it was Friday.

Arya could give two shits about it being Friday, the only thing she was looking forward to was going home and eating. She didn't want to fucking see Sandor make googly eyes towards her sister. She didn't want to see her father try to intimidate an eighteen year old boy who was over a foot taller than him.

That was one thing Arya hated about Sandor, how fucking tall he was. He had to be close to eight feet tall. She was short enough already, around Sandor she felt like she was a child standing next to an adult. It was fucking weird and she hated it.

All week Sansa had been doing nothing but talking about Sandor, Sandor this and Sandor that.

How she couldn't wait to see Sandor at the barbecue, how she hoped their father would like him.

Who gives a shit? She didn't. She had told Sansa that she didn't even know the damn guy, just because he played a game with them didn't make him an awesome person. Just because he helped her out didn't mean he was a nice person.  
Because he wasn't. In her eyes, Sandor was a brute. He was rude and he was rough.

Anytime Gendyr brought up Sansa the day before, Sandor would snap and dare to threaten him.

It's not like her fucking boyfriend liked her sister, he was worried about her. Just asking how she was doing, how she was feeling. But Sandor had to step in and fucking dare to tell him Sansa was none of his concern. Like hell she wasn't! Gendry cared about her like she was his own sister.

Arya let out a loud frustrated sigh and kicked at her gym locker.

The man starts to have feelings for her sister and he acts like a fucking jack ass.

Her sister was not a possession, she wasn't something that could be owned. Joffrey had tried doing that, tried to control her. Arya would be damned if she let her sister be treated like that again. She would make that clear with Sandor as well, if he wanted to date her then he had to understand.

He had to be fucking caring, gentle, and treat her and her friends right.

She may be super short compared to the brute, but she knew she could take him on. If he dared to continue this act or whatever the hell was up with him, he'd have hell to face.

././.

Arya stormed into the gym, Gendry and Hotpie stood in the attendance line away from Sandor. He was standing at the end of the line, his arms crossed against his chest and a frown on his face. She glared at him, her knuckles turned white as she clutched them tightly.

Raising an eyebrow at her actions, Sandor sneered at her.

Oh yeah dude, keep up the fucking act. Show me exactly how tough you are. She growled to herself as she grit her teeth.

Her sneakers squeaked against the gym's floor as she walked to stand in line, away from Gendry and Hotpie and away from Sandor. She stood in the middle of the line, she was furious to snap at anyone. She didn't feel like getting into an argument with Gendry today, and she knew he read her body language, saw the look on her face and he knew better to leave her alone.

He'd be able to talk to her at the barbecue since he was coming as well. All she wanted to do was grab her food, and run upstairs to her room. Gendry could join her, if he didn't want to watch what was going to happen.

After their coach Brienne checked to make sure who was in the class and who wasn't she let everyone go to do whatever they pleased. As long as they did something.

Gendry and Hotpie decided to stay in the gym and play basketball as Sandor left the gym to go into the weight room.

Arya decided to go into the weight room as well.

Opening the door, she watched as Sandor turned to see who entered the weight lifting room after him. He seemed surprised to see her, but he grunted and moved to sit on the weight lifting bench.

"What do you want she wolf?" He jutted out his chin and tilted his head slightly to the left. He slouched forward as the flat of his palms rested on his knees.

"I want you to stop acting like an ass towards Gendry every time he asks about my sister." She stated as she pressed her lips together to form a thin line.

"So your boyfriend sent you here as his defense squad?" Sandor chuckled, his shoulders shook from his laughter.

"No. I don't think he really cared about what you had to say, he's not the type of person to let the small shit get to him." She clenched her jaw in annoyance.

"Oh, but you are?"

"No. My sister isn't yours Clegane. She wasn't Joffrey's, she will never belong to no one. She isn't something that can't be owned. If Gendry or Hotpie want to ask me something about my sister than they can do so without you acting like a dick, like with what you pulled with yesterdays bullshit." Arya crinkled her nose and curled up her mouth with a sneer of her own.

Sandor leaned back and sighed, he seemed to be deep in thought, but Arya didn't care. She kept going on her little rant.

"I'm not going to let my sister be controlled again by some monster. Fuck you two aren't even dating and you're so possessive over her. There's a difference between possessive and protective. If you want to protect her, that's fine..We all do. Joffrey is fucking gone, and now you're supposed to show up at my house tonight and fucking make Sansa all doe eyed and I don't want to fucking see it!" Arya stomped her foot as if she was having a tantrum.

"I'd love to see my sister happy again, but if you hurt her, I swear to god I'll fucking kill you Clegane."

Sandor snapped his head up with his eyebrows raised and he narrowed his eyes towards her, "I'm nothing like Joffrey, like that piece of shit. I'm not the fucking greatest person out there, but I'm not a fucking monster like him or my piece of shit brother..." Sandor sighed and shook his head, "But I understand what you're trying to say."

Taking a small step back, Arya felt her eyebrow twitch.

"I don't even know what the fuck your sister sees in me, hell she said she thought I was cute. Me, fucking cute. Did she tell you that?" Sandor frowned, raised his hand up to his chin to scratch at the beard he was trying to grow out.

Arya scoffed, "Yeah she won't stop fucking talking about you. I can't believe she thinks you're cute either. It's fucking weird." Arya watched as Sandor fidgeted on the weight bench, his fingers twitched and his eyes seemed to dart towards her and then change to looking at the ground. Something then clicked in her head, Sandor Clegane was nervous. Big bad man was acting out because he was nervous of coming over tonight.

"She told me you tried to back out of not coming tonight. She still doesn't know why either." She smirked and watched as Sandor raised his head to glare at her.

"Well, I'm coming....Little Bird made sure of that." He half smiled and looked down towards his sneakers, "I'm not going to ask her out you know." He suddenly stood up and turned his back to her. He walked over to the small fridge in the corner. 

"Wait why?" Arya frowned, imagining Sansa pouting and sulking weeks from now about Sandor not asking her out.

She watched as the large man pulled out a bottle of water, he turned back towards her and tossed her a bottle.

She caught it with ease, but didn't open it.

"Oh? You seemed so upset at the thought of me dating her." He twisted off the cap and took a large gulp of the water.

"No, I just don't want you hurting her. Or being an ass towards her. She's been through enough." Arya explained softly, she lightly skimmed her hands over the water bottle, playing with the damp label.

Sandor shrugged, he let out a deep sigh and walked to sit back down on the bench.

"We barely know each other, for one. Don't want to rush into anything. I want to make sure she likes me, for me...Not just because she has this ideal of me being her hero." Sandor shook his head, "Never had a fucking girlfriend before, not sure how this shit works. I wouldn't let any harm come to her though, if anyone tried to hurt her..I'd kill them." Sandor growled, clenching at the water bottle.

Arya laughed softly, "You and me both." He turned to look at her, smirking at her.

./././.

After school, Gendry agreed to just ride with Arya to her house. She'd have to take him back to pick up his car afterwards, but it gave them some alone time after the barbecue. Sandor walked behind the couple as they held hands.

"Should we stop off at a store so I can pick up something?" Gendry asked while furrowing his brow.

"Maybe some soda. Knowing my parents and Sansa they've been cooking all day." Arya licked at her lips, her stomach grumbled as her mouth watered as she thought of burgers and egg salad.

"Fuck yeah, your dad makes the best fucking baby back ribs, holy shit. I can't wait." Gendry laughed.

Sandor frowned, he hadn't thought about bringing anything either, this was truly his first time going to a real barbecue so he wasn't sure what to expect.

"What should I bring?" He asked, Arya turned towards him, she raised an eyebrow.

"How much soda do you drink?"

He shrugged.

"I'll get the soda." Gendry said, "What about smores? Can you pick up stuff for smores?"

Arya grinned, "Oh hell yeah we should totally have a bonfire tonight!" Gendry nodded at his girlfriend and leaned over to kiss her forehead.

"What? Marshmallows, chocolate..and gram crackers?" Sandor asked, trying to think of the last time he had smores with his grandfather on a fishing trip.

"Yeah maybe pick up some skewers, but get a lot of that stuff. Sansa loves smores, but she can eat like thirty of them." Arya frowned, even thought her sister was super skinny she could out eat anyone at a buffet. It was almost scary.

Nodding Sandor ignored the fear of being close to a bonfire, but decided to get a bunch of smores supplies. Just to make the Little Bird happy.

He waved to Gendry and Arya as they got into Sansa's car and pulled away. He knew he was being a dick lately towards them, but he didn't think he was being that bad to make Arya confront him.

He silently cursed himself as he got into his truck. Starting it up he pulled out of the parking lot and drove towards a grocery store.

././.

Standing in the isle, he looked at all the different types of marshmallows. He picked out the large jumbo ones, and grabbed five bags of them. If what Arya said was true, then he might as well get what he could but being careful about how much money he spent.

He picked up some chocolate bars and a box of gram crackers. Picking up a packet of skewers, he frowned. He couldn't remember what smores even tasted like, has it really been that long? Sighing lightly as he shook his head, he walked over to the cashier to pay for his smores stuff.

He hoped Arya would keep her mouth shut, so he could surprise the Little Bird.

./././.

Pulling up into their driveway, he could hear music blasting from the backyard and kids laughing. His palms were sweaty, and he bit his lip. It was a damn barbecue, it was nothing to be so nervous about.

Grabbing the plastic bags, he got out of his truck, locking it behind him.

Walking slowly, he took a deep breath to calm his nerves. He rang the doorbell, he heard a few dogs barking in the background.

The door opened, a man looked up at him, he had a short beard, and semi-long hair.

"Ah, you must be Sandor. I'm Sansa's father, Eddard Stark." The man, Eddard, reached out his arm towards him. Sandor nodded and reached out with his empty hand, he shook Eddard's hand.

"Yes, I'm Sandor Clegane Mr.Stark." Sandor cleared his throat as Eddard looked down at the bags in Sandor's other hand. He raised his eyebrows and looked back up at Sandor.

"Please call me Ned, Arya informed me that you suggested to get stuff to make some smores." Ned smiled and laughed lightly. "Come inside! Everyone is out back, I was hoping to talk to you first though."

Sandor nodded, he followed Ned inside the house. Three large dogs came over, sniffing at his sneakers and the bag of food.

"Out! Outside, go on!" Ned snapped his fingers, the dogs listened to him and left Sandor alone. Ned sat down on the couch in the living room, Sandor sat down on one of the recliners that was in front of the couch.

"So...." Ned leaned forward, resting his elbow on the arm of the couch, "What exactly happened the other day Sandor?"


	11. Barbecue [Part Two]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "What about you? You didn't do any of those things? You're associated with Joffrey, why not follow the crowd?" Ned narrowed his eyes at Sandor, who in turn sighed.
> 
> "Joffrey's parents pay me to protect him, not follow his commands. I know how manipulative that little cunt is, and I've seen it for myself. I'm not going to pick on an innocent girl for the fun of it, I don't find anything about torturing someone fun." Sandor raised his eyebrows and scowled.

"Your daughter and I have our first class together -art class- and she seemed fine, just a little tired." Sandor started to explain as he leaned over, trying to get comfortable.

Ned watched Sandor carefully, trying to detect any lies the large student might say.

"I walked her down the hall after first period, and I told her I would see her at lunch. I arrived a bit late to lunch, because I was finishing up an assignment for my computer tech class. But when I sat down across from her I noticed something was wrong. She had her head down on her arms, and when she looked up at me I became instantly furious."

"Why was that?" Ned cleared his throat, he watched as Sandor leaned back and ran his hand through his dark long hair.

"Her bottom lip was swollen and bloody. Sansa...Sansa isn't the type of person to go looking for trouble." Sandor tilted his head, trying to make Ned understand that Sansa wasn't at fault here; which he was sure the father already knew that. "She's the type of person during school to stay quiet and stick to herself. She just recently started talking to me when her sister and that boyfriend of hers reached out to her." Sandor explained slowly, licking his lips.

"That doesn't sound like Sansa at all....Normally she's out going and smiling here at home..Well unless she's in her room." Ned smiled softly but frowned when he saw Sandor shake his head.

"Joffrey really fucked her up emotionally. Everyone at school bloody hates her because of what he says about her. Now that he's been gone, I'm sure people will try to start talking to her again." Sandor glanced at the green carpet to glare at. Clenching his jaw he looked back up to Ned and started to talk again, "Before this happened, kids would purposely bump into her and knock her textbooks out of her hands in the halls and laugh, call her names, isolate her. She had no one to talk to unless it was Arya."

"What about you? You didn't do any of those things? You're associated with Joffrey, why not follow the crowd?" Ned narrowed his eyes at Sandor, who in turn sighed.

"Joffrey's parents pay me to protect him, not follow his commands. I know how manipulative that little cunt is, and I've seen it for myself. I'm not going to pick on an innocent girl for the fun of it, I don't find anything about torturing someone fun." Sandor raised his eyebrows and scowled.

"We only had gym together up until you had her classes changed a few months ago." Sandor added.

Ned nodded, "Yes that was after the break-up, trying to seperate the two of them. Sandor shrugged his shoulders.

"Well now we have a couple classes together, she asked me to sit by her a few days ago, so I did. Normally I thought she was afraid of me, or thought I was one of Joffrey's followers." Sandor spat out and crinkled his nose in disgust.

"How did that all change? What made her start to trust you?" Ned asked while furrowing his brow.

"I don't honestly know. I don't know why she wants to be friends with me, and I don't know why she wants to talk to me or be near me." Sandor frowned, "But I'll be damned if someone tries to hurt her again. You can only push someone so far until they snap." Ned nodded at Sandor's words agreeing with him.

"Now..About Joffrey...Is he still planning on hurting Sansa?" Ned asked while leaning back into the chair.

"He won't touch her, but he might have other people try; just like those girls. He has two guys that follow him around who take in a sickening joy to pick on her and hurt her. Their names are Boros Blount and Meryn Trant, they might do something or they might not. I wouldn't know." Sandor growled, frustrated that he doesn't know the unknown.

"I told your daughter not to take her car to school, that I would drive her and she'd be safe. I wouldn't put it past those fuckers to fuck with her car while she's in class." Sandor licked at his dry lips, he could smell the food from the outside and it was making him hungry.

"Why would you offer to do something like that? And why won't you know about what might happen to my daughter?" Ned asked while clenching his own jaw.

"Look at me. Take a good hard look, teachers and students are afraid of me because of my face. I'm a monster to them, when they see Sansa hanging around me, they'll back off completely not wanting to piss me off. I don't want to see her get hurt, as I said before. If someone happens to mess with her brakes and both of your daughters get hurt...I'd probably kill the fucker who did it." Sandor looked at Ned in the eyes and growled.

Ned smiled softly, "You and me both."

"I quit working for Joffrey, he called me up and he was bitching up a storm blaming Sansa for everything. I couldn't take it anymore so I told him it was his fault, not hers." Sandor chuckled.

Ned even chuckled as well, "I bet the boy didn't like that."

 _"No he didn't."_ Sandor furrow his brows and shook his head slightly.

"That boy is out of control. I don't know what Robert is going to do with him." Ned sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and pointer finger.

"He makes too many enemies, he's going to get killed one day." Sandor bit down on his bottom lip while nodding softly, happy with himself that he had quit so he didn't have to deal with Joffrey anymore.

"So what are you going to do now that you're out of a job?" Ned asked, snapping Sandor out of his thoughts.

 _"I honestly don't know..Not a lot of people will hire me because of this face."_ Sandor swallowed a lump in his throat while shrugging. It was his problem to deal with, not Ned's.

"Hmmm. Well I'm sure we'll figure something out, I'm very glad you helped out my daughter and brought her home...Let's go eat, I bet you're starving." Ned stood up watching as Sandor stood up as well. He patted Sandor on the back and led him to the back porch where everyone was.

Sandor was still holding the bag of gram crackers, marsh mallows, and chocolate bars. He stepped out onto the deck and noticed a large, long, rectangle table full of food. His mouth watered at the sight. _When was the last time he had a real home cooked meal?_

Arya, Gendry, a boy with shaggy semi-long blonde hair and a taller boy with straight brown hair were playing football in the grass. A few of their dogs tried to jump up and catch the football, making the kids laugh. Sandor smirked at the sight. He noticed two men sitting at a round table with Sansa. One had curly black hair and the other had brown hair. They both had similar strong facial features as Ned.

Sansa gazed up at him and grinned, "Oh there you are!" She got up and walked over to him, still slightly limping. He smirked down at her and then let out a small surprised gasp as she hugged him.

She grabbed his large hand with her small one and pulled him to the direction of the small table. "Come! Meet my brother Robb and my cousin Jon!" She giggled as she offered him her chair. He declined and grabbed one from a different table, pulling it over to the round table.

"Hello, I'm Robb. You must be Sandor." The man with brown hair smiled softly and reached out his hand to shake. Sandor reached to shake it, and then turned to Jon to shake his hand as well.

"Aye, I'm Sandor."

"Jon."

Sansa giggled and took a sip of her soda, Sandor felt himself smile at the sight of her. Her eyes were beaming with happiness, she was wearing jean shorts and a red plaid tank top that brought out her blue eyes. She smiled up at him, "Oh? Are you thirsty? Let me get you a drink." She stood up from her seat before he could respond.

"You better not hurt her." Robb stated under his breath, making Sandor turn to face him, frowning.

"Why would I do that?" Sandor growled out, clenching his teeth.

"I don't know why anyone would want to hurt her, but she's been hurt enough." JOn spoke up and glared at Sandor.

"Arya told us that you liked her. If you hurt her, I swear to God that I will hunt you down and gut you." Robb sneered, Jon just kept a straight face while nodding his head slightly.

"She also told us that you helped her, a lot." Jon spoke softly, watching Sandor's face twitch with annoyance.

"Aye, I have helped her. I don't ever plan on hurting her..But if I do then you have every right to do whatever you please." Sandor nodded to Robb and Jon, the men saw that Sansa was returning with some soda for Sandor. They all became quiet like nothing happened.

Handing him the soda, Sansa smiled softly up at him. "I didn't know what you liked..But I remembered you drinking the Mountain Dew I gave you before."

Sandor smiled while taking the cold can of soda from her soft grasp, "Mounatin Dew is fine Little Bird." He placed the bag down, and Sansa turned to look at it.

"What's that?" She pointed to the plastic bag as he opened up his can of soda. He took a small sip and chuckled. _"It's a surprise."_

"A surprise?" Sansa squeaked as her eyebrows twitched. He nodded, Robb and Jon smiled at the scene in front of them, already noticing how different Sandor was from Joffrey with the ways they treated their sister.

A football crashed into their table, making everyone's soda spill everywhere. Sansa screeched because she didn't want her stitches to get wet.

"ARYA!" Robb called out, noticing Sansa's distress.

"Rickon threw the damn ball! Not me!" Arya cried out, she noticed Sandor was grabbing napkins and cleaning up the soda off the table.

"Oi! Hound! Did you bring the smores stuff?!" Arya smirked as Sandor turned to glare at her.

 _"So much for a fucking surprise..."_ He grumbled, Sansa giggled and helped him clean up the mess.

"I love smores! Can we eat some now?!" Sansa looked like she could jump up and down if it wasn't for her injuries. 

"You need to eat dinner first Sansa." Her mother called, she walked outside carrying a bowl of itailian pasta salad. Ned was over at the grill, fishing up the burgers and hot dogs.

Sandor's mouth watered at all the food, Robb chuckled and placed his hand on Sandor's shoulder. "Eat as much as you want, there's plenty."

He followed Robb and Jon to help Catelyn bring out more food to set on the already filled table. They had to end up placing Sansa's egg salad on the round table, along with the baby back ribs.

Ned carried over a large plate of hot dogs and hamburgers to the round table as well. "Alright everyone, dig in!" He called out before walking back to the grill to turn off the propane tank.

Sandor followed Sansa as she made herself a plate; chicken legs, pasta salads, ribs, a hamburger, an corn on the cob. Sandor raised his eyebrow and laughed as she blushed. Arya laughed as well, "Dude, that's only her _first_ plate. Wait until she's on her _third_."

"Arya!" Sansa laughed and shook her head, "I don't eat _that_ much."

"When it comes to smores you do." Robb commented before taking a bite of his cheeseburger.

Sandor finished making his own plate, full of chicken, two burgers, two hot dogs, a few ribs, a little bit of every salad, and an egg salad sandwhich. Arya raises an eyebrow at his pile but says nothing, because she has a pile of her own.

Catelyn, Ned, Rickon, and Bran sit at the round table to eat while everyone else sits along side the long rectangle table. Sandor sits on the corner next to Sansa while Arya sits directly in front of him and Gendry sits across from Sansa. Robb is sitting next to the other side of Sansa while Jon sits across from him.

Arya picks at her corn on the cob and rips out a kernel. She eyeballs Sandor who is devouring his ribs. She flicks her finger, trying to aim for Sandor's forehead, but her aim is way off and hits Sansa's cheek.

"REALLY ARYA?!" Sansa scowls and picks out an olive from her pasta salad and tries to flick it back at her sister, but a gust of wind picks up and it hits Jon right in the eye.

"You've got to be _fucking_ kidding me." Jon pulls the olive away from his eyelid and glares at Sansa playfully.

"I-I didn't mean too, I was trying to aim for Arya." Sansa pouts.

Gendry and Robb laugh as Sandor watches the family interact while he moves on to one of his burgers.

"Yeah well I was aiming for _Sandor's fat head_." Arya snarled, curling up her lip.

Sandor sneered, swallowing the burger he was chewing. "I don't have a _fat head_."

"Yes you do." Arya nodded while glaring at him.

Sandor leaned back and pulled out an egg chunk form his sandwich and aimed carefully.

"One last chance. I do _not_ have a fat head." He growled while smirking. Everyone was watching them in awe, taking a few bites of their own food. Sansa was just grateful that Jon's attention was no longer on hers, because she knows how much he hates olives.

 _"You. Have. A. Fat. Fucking. Head."_ Arya started to laugh, but while she was laughing Sandor flicked the chunk of egg and it flew right into her mouth. She gasped and coughed a bit as she swallow the piece of egg. She starred at Sandor in amazement while everyone else bulged their eyes waiting for her to explode into a tantrum.

Sandor went back to eating his burger, proud of his work. Arya just kept looking at him like she was seeing a transformation before her eyes.

 ** _"THAT WAS AMAZING! DO IT AGAIN!"_** She yells out and opens up her mouth for Sandor to flick more food, Sansa throws a a noodle towards her sister and she dives to catch it.

Laughing along with the family and Gendry at Arya's actions he started to feel at piece. He was...He was sort of glad he came, it was...It was _nice_ to be around the Starks.


	12. Star Gazing.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Watching quietly while sitting on the bench, Sansa felt warmth spread through her chest. Joffrey never gave two shits about anyone in her family, and she knew that Bran normally felt left out from everything. It made her feel wonderful that Sandor was connecting with Bran and was giving her family the time of day...It showed that he actually cared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things have been crazy lately, so I hope you all enjoy this fluff of a chapter. I tried to add a little more Gendry/Arya just for the hell of it ^_^

The heat from the fire was almost getting unbearable, Arya and Gendry had stacked pine logs from a tree Robb had helped Ned cut down before storm season. Sansa had to move a bench farther away from the fire; with the help of Sandor even though he wasn't too happy about Arya's wild creation of what she called a bonfire.

"Arya.. _I think that's enough_.." Sansa frowned, the flames were about nine feet high blazing wildly. It was a calm night, no wind and Gendry had sprayed down the rest of the area with the house to get the ground wet so nothing would catch.

Arya laughed like a lunatic, dancing around the fire while head banging. Sandor frowned while holding the bags of chocolate, gram crackers, and marshmallows. He sat as far back as he could away from the wild bonfire.

"I think Sansa's right..We should let it die down some so we can make some smores." Gendry laughed. 

"Fiiiiinnnneee." Arya sighed but a large grin dawned upon her face. 

Gendry sat down at another bench with Arya sat down next to him. He wrapped his arm around her, knowing she was trying to catch her breath and was tired and wouldn't shrug him off anytime soon.

Sansa watched the lightening bug light up the yard, Rickon laughed and ran around trying to catch them. She sat on the same bench as Sandor but there was a large gap between them. Sansa reached out her arm and a lightening bug landed on her hand, she let out a soft giggle and was admiring the bug. Bran was busy setting up his telescope to watch the stars, he wanted to show Sandor his favorite constellations.

Sandor watched Sansa, and watched as the lightening bug crawl up her hand and onto her arm. Lighting up her skin every so often, her eyes watched the bug, she laughed as the bug tickled her soft skin. Smiling as he watched her, he didn't notice Gendry and Arya stole the bag of goodies until it was too late.

 _"AHHH HAAA! THAT'S WHAT YOU GET FOR OGLING AT MY SISTER!"_ Arya laughed and picked out a skewer and placed a marshmallow on it. Rickon ran over to Sansa, excited to see that a bug landed on her. Sansa smiled and gently grabbed the bug and handed it to Rickon, who ended up placing the bug in the jar.  
Sandor glared at Arya, giving her the finger. _"I wasn't fucking doing anything."_

 _"...Right."_ Arya rolled her eyes while Gendry shook his head and laughed. The couple both walked closer to the fire that was now calming down. They both started to roast their marshmallows as Sansa turned to Sandor, smiling softly.

The fire's light reflected off of her auburn hair, her pale skin, and in her eyes.

Sandor thought she looked beautiful.

"Have you ever had a smore before?" She asked in a gentle tone while smiling softly. Her fingers played with the ends of her hair as she waited for him to answer.

He shrugged, "Aye...Long time ago." He watched her as she sat up and walked towards the bag and dug out a skewer and a few marshmallows. As she bent down to roast her marshmallow in the fire, Sandor took in the nice view of her rear.

After a few moments, she stood back up and blew on the marshmallow gently; she quickly walked to the bag and pulled out chocolate and broke a piece along with breaking gram crackers in half. Walking back to the bench she held out her hand, offering Sandor the smore she just made.

He looked at it, and then looked back at her; her smiling was slowly fading. Arya and Gendry were too busy shoving marshmallows into each other's mouths...Seeing who could hold the most marshmallows in their mouth while it's closed.

Sandor looked back at the smore, the chocolate was melted and the marshmallow was a light shade of golden brown. Slowly he reached up to take it, _the smore being the first thing a woman has ever given to him_...He was in awe.  
She let go of the smore, bringing her hand up to her mouth and licking the chocolate off of it. Sandor watched her, fighting back a groan as he took a bite out of the smore. It was delicious, the sweet taste of the chocolate and the warm sensation of the marsh mallow. He licked his lips after swallowing his first bite and finished the rest of the smore off with one bite.

Sansa beamed at him, "Did you like it?" She asked, her gaze shifted from his to Bran who was showing Rickon the Milky Way.

"Aye." He nodded and licked his lips again; watching as she licked her own lips. _If only she knew how badly he wanted to taste those pink lips and to have his tongue dance with hers as they would moan against one another._

She smiled, "I'm glad. Want another?" She looked at him through her lashes, her body tingled as she watched him lick his lips and stare at her with a deep hunger.  
He nodded slowly, she turned around and grabbed two marshmallows out of the bag. She bent over once more to roast them over the fire. Sandor had to bite the inside of his cheek as he watched her panties ride up from her shorts as she bent over.

Gendry started to cough and marshmallows started to fly out of his mouth. Arya cheered, her mouth full and she jumped up and down yelling, "I wonff! I wonff!"  
 _"Arya you're going to choke."_ Bran watched his older sister carefully, she started to chew and mash the marshmallows in her mouth.

"I feel like I'm going to be sick if you spit that out." Bran mumbled and Arya grinned wickedly. She ran towards him and spat the white wad of mush towards him. He yelled and dodged it as Rickon laughed.

Sansa shook her head but went back to making herself and Sandor smores. She took a bite of her own as she walked back to the bench, handing Sandor another one. Arya walked back to sit near Gendry who was poking a fire.

"So, prom is coming up." He said softly, he watched the fire as it danced.

 _"And?"_ Arya scoffed, _"I'm not wearing a damn dress."_

 _"So you'd wear a tux?"_ Sansa laughed and smiled at her sister, then took another bite of her smore.

"Yeah, why the fuck not?! You'll just wear some god awful ugly ass dress anyways knowing you." Arya teased her sister in a snitty tone.

Sansa frowned, _"I'm not going to prom."_ She said seriously before popping her thumb into her mouth to suck off the chocolate; not noticing Sandor staring at her with hunger and then confusion to her words.

Gendry's head snapped up, he furrowed his brows, "Why not? Thought you would love to go to prom since Joffrey is gone."

Arya watched her sister as she shrugged, _"Just..Just don't want to go. Why should I? It'll be like..Asking for trouble."_ Sansa shook her head. Sandor frowned and cleared his throat, "Not like you have to go Little Bird. I wasn't going either, it's a fucking waste of time." Sandor sneered.  
Arya frowned, _"What the fuck is the point of me going if I can't make fun of you?! UGH!"_ Arya kicked at a stone, making it fly towards Rickon.

Sitting quietly; Gendry smiled, "We can have an epic movie night or game night." He offered, everyone looked at him, raising their eyebrows waiting for an explanation.

"We could all crash at my place that night...Set up all of our systems and play together under one roof, or watch a shit ton of movies with snacks." He grinned, "Better than fucking dancing to shitty music."

Barking out a raspy laugh, Sandor slapped his knee while nodding, "Have to agree with you there Waters." Sansa pouted as Arya grinned, "That means horror movies..." She sighed as Arya winked at her.

"Fuck yeah it means horror movies." Arya busted out laughing as Sansa flicked her off, causing Sandor and Gendry to laugh as well.  
"..Hate horror movies." Sansa pouted and looked at Sandor, "You'll go right?"

 _"Go?"_ He grunted while narrowing his eyes towards her.

"Yeah.... To the movie night or game night?" She licked her lips and asked softly.

He sighed, toying with her, _"I don't know."_ He kicked at the dirt and looked at the ground. His hair fell off his shoulders and was hiding his face from hers. "Not really a big sleep over fan."

"Oh..Well...You can stay late and then leave? You don't have to stay.." Sansa tried to find a solution..She bit down on her bottom lip gently..Maybe...Maybe she shouldn't be pushing the subject with him.

He chuckled darkly, _"You want me there that badly Little Bird?"_ He rasped out in a whisper. Tilting his head towards her, his smirk sent a shiver down her spine. Winking at her, she felt her cheeks heat up.

"Oi, stop being a creep towards her." Arya glared, "She'll just keep us up all night. Any noise she thinks she hears will jolt her out of her sleep and she'll panic. It's fucking annoying." Arya rolled her eyes as Sansa stuck out her tongue.

"Well stop watching horror movies while I'm around!" 

"I'm not going to stop watching shit I like because you're a pussbag."Arya scoffed and turned back towards her boyfriend to challenge him to another contest. Only this time it was to see who could eat the most burned marshmallow without gagging.

Turning away from Sandor, Sansa looked down at the dirt. _She felt stupid for asking Sandor to come to Gendry's..She felt stupid for even wanting to go to Gendry's..._ A warm hand ran across her shoulder and down her back. Shifting slowly, she turned her head and saw that Sandor was facing her. His hand ran up her back and started to gently play with her hair. He grabbed a lock and looked at it, _"I'll go."_ He spoke softly, leaning close to her ear. Her body shivered as his warm breath tickled her skin. He laughed darkly and let go of her hair, _"Sadly for you Little Bird..I also happen to enjoy horror movies."_

"Sandor! I found it! Come quick!" Bran started to jump up and down, any chance he got to show off what he could to someone new, he'd take it. The large man scared him at first, but there was something about him..Something that made Bran look up to the strong man.

He wanted to impress him, he had a feeling there was something more to Sandor and Sansa...Usually his gut feelings were always right, so he wanted to also get to know the man as well.

Sandor chuckled and walked towards Bran, he looked through the telescope as Bran talked about his favorite stars and planets. Sandor listened to every word and asked a few questions about certain stars; which had Bran beaming with pride because someone took interest in what he liked.

Watching quietly while sitting on the bench, Sansa felt warmth spread through her chest. _Joffrey never gave two shits about anyone in her family, and she knew that Bran normally felt left out from everything. It made her feel wonderful that Sandor was connecting with Bran and was giving her family the time of day...It showed that he actually cared.._ Her face was starting to hurt because she was smiling so hard. She looked up towards the stars and watched as a shooting star flew by.

"WOW! Did you guys see that?!" Rickon cried, Arya and Gendry kissed each other after they watched the shooting star vanish.  
Sandor gave Bran a high-five, laughing as Bran cheered happily.

Sansa closed her eyes and made a silent wish, _wishing to finally find herself and her happiness._


	13. School.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sandor watched Sansa as she sang, he’d never heard her sing before. He could give a shit less about the twats from the other side of the room, all he wanted was to hear more from the Little Bird’s sweet mouth. The dull look in her eyes had faded as she sang, she had started to draw instead of gnaw on the pencil. He watched her draw, making dark lines, light lines, fading and coloring. She was drawing her character from the game they played together. She looked at him suddenly and smiled brightly at him, he had to look away, his heart beat wildly in his chest. _Just what was this girl doing to him?_

The following Monday had been nothing but insane for Sansa, Sandor had arrived at her house to pick her up for school. She had tried making him and egg sandwich but she ended up burning the eggs, he ate the sandwich anyways, grimacing as he took large bites, wolfing the sandwich down.

“Thought you were supposed to be some great cook Little Bird…” Sandor said after he finished eating the egg sandwich as he pulled into the theater’s parking lot. “You didn’t have to eat it…I told you it was going to be bad. _I warned you_.” Sansa gasped, carefully stepping out of his truck, her hip felt a million times better while her ankle still bothered her were the stitches where. They itched, the annoyed her, and she just wanted them gone.

As she picked up her book bag, she checked the time from Sandor’s clock on his dashboard. They were a few minutes early, and Sansa took that spare time for a quick smoke break. She closed his truck’s door and looking inside her purse for her stress reliever. Pulling out her cigarettes from her purse, she placed one between her lips and held it with her teeth as she lit it up with her pink lighter. The anxiety of returning back to this hell hole was getting to her; her hands were shaking as she thought about the looks that students gave her. Her chest started to ache as she thought about being shoved around again.

Taking a long drag of her cigarette, she snapped out of her daze as Sandor walked around his truck to stand next to her. He grunted as his fingers twitched, he had ran out of cigarettes during the weekend and instead of going out and buying another pack, he’d rather put money in his gas tank. Sansa looked up at him and offered a cigarette from her pack and he gladly took one. He even let her light it up with her fucking prissy pink lighter.

“Joffrey’s not here anymore…He won’t hurt you anymore.” He growled out and Sansa closed her eyes as she leaned against his truck. She knew Joffrey was gone, but that was one person out of the whole school population. One person who hated her compared to the rest of hundreds of people who hated her. As she finished up her cigarette, she dropped it and stepped on it, smearing the rest of the tobacco on the concrete. Sandor crushed his between his thumb and pointer finger before flicking it towards the sidewalk, the morning bell rang and Sansa felt a nervous again.

As she walked with her book bag on her bag, one strap over her right shoulder she avoided looks from other students who were staring at her curiously with Sandor Clegane. The large man walked beside her, glaring at anyone who dared look at her. In his eyes, _she was all above them, they were all scum in his eyes. Nothing but rats, and he was the dog to chase them off._ As they walked together to their art class, students would stop talking and move out of their way. The hall ways were quiet with the exception of lockers opening and closer and students shuffling papers as they walked. 

Sansa limped slightly, her ankle bothering her. She had forgotten to take her pain medication because she was in such a rush to make Sandor’s breakfast; but she had fucked that up. _I fuck everything up, I’m so stupid._ She scowled as she thought to herself. A couple that were holding each other’s hands walked in front of Sansa, she was just going to move out of their way, not wanting to break them up. 

Sandor must have knew what she was she was going to do because he started to pick up his pace and ended up walking in front of her. The couple gasped as Sandor roughly broke them apart, barreling through their hands. The girl scoffed and the boy was too afraid to say anything to the fearsome Clegane student. Sandor smirked wickedly as he slowed down and looked at Sansa, she shook her head and sighed. _“You’re terrible.”_ But giggled as he barked out with a harsh laugh that echoed throughout the hallway, silencing everyone’s footsteps.

“They can all fuck off if I care, no one gets in my fucking way.” He growled and she rolled her eyes, “Not even me?” Sandor raised an eyebrow as he looked down at her, she felt her cheeks heat up as she blushed. He ignored her question and looked away from her gaze, if her ankle wasn't bothering her she would've messed with him and walked in front of him to get under her skin. 

././.

Art class was boring and dull, Sansa just wasn’t in the mood to draw anything. She sat at the table her and Sandor shared, chewing on the eraser that was at the end of her pencil. The girls across the classroom whispered to one another and watched her carefully. Sansa knew they were talking about her, and instead of upsetting her…It made her angry, _just why couldn’t they find something else to talk about? Why couldn’t they just leave her alone?_ Sandor poked his head up once or twice from his sketch to glare at them, but they’d only shut up for a few minutes before talking again.

Normally she would take out her Itouch and listen to her music, but as she closed her eyes it felt like the girl’s whispers were getting louder and louder. Sansa felt her hands shaking as she bit the eraser off of her pencil completely. She felt a burning sensation flow through her body as she continued to listen to these girls. More girls had chimed in on the gossip, the art teacher was in the back room painting her own project. Sansa took a deep breath, sure she had fought back before, she had argued back before, she ignored people, she let them push her around. Nothing ever worked, Joffrey was gone and she was sick of it, she was sick of everything. She was tired of hiding behind everyone, having them protect her whenever she was in danger.

She took a deep breath and started to sketch, starting to hum softly. The only thing that had ever made her feel better besides her friends, was singing. Sandor looked up from his work as she started humming louder. The girls stopped talking and had starting laughing, Sansa knew what she wanted to draw, she didn't care what the girls had to say, she’d shut them all up. She’d shut them up with her singing. Taking a deep breath, she started singing a song she depended on and listened to quite often.

 _“I can hold my breath, I can bite my tongue.”_ She sung softly, her art teacher poked her head through the room as Sansa continued to sing loudly, _“I can fake a smile, I can force a laugh.”_ She smiled as the girls’ mouths dropped open.

 _“But I’m only human, and I bleed when I fall down, I’m only human, and I crash and I break down.”_ Sansa smiled at the girls, as she sung, and the girls awkwardly smiled back. _“I can do it! I can do it! I’ll get through it! But I’m only human, and I bleed when I fall down.”_ As Sansa sang, a few girls chimed in for the chorus part, even if they were off key, Sansa didn’t care. As long as they stopped talking about her.

 _“I’m only human, just a little human!”_ The girls laughed and giggled with one another, Sansa smiled and stopped drawing. When the girls stopped singing, Sansa took a deep breath, _“I can take so much, until I’ve had enough.”_ The girls chimed in again for the chorus, and Sansa started laughing and smiling along with them.

Sandor watched Sansa as she sang, he’d never heard her sing before. He could give a shit less about the twats from the other side of the room, all he wanted was to hear more from the Little Bird’s sweet mouth. The dull look in her eyes had faded as she sang, she had started to draw instead of gnaw on the pencil. He watched her draw, making dark lines, light lines, fading and coloring. She was drawing her character from the game they played together. She looked at him suddenly and smiled brightly at him, he had to look away, his heart beat wildly in his chest. _Just what was this girl doing to him?_

After the bell rang, dismissing first period, Sansa and Sandor walked by the girls who waited for them by the door. The girls, instead of snobbing and making snide comments about Sansa all giggled and smiled warmly towards her telling her how that they never knew how amazing she was at singing and how fun she could be. Sansa smiled at them back, glad to have some positive feedback rather than negative. Sandor had growled at them, but they avoided his face and turned away from them shouting that they make such a cute couple.

That had made Sansa and Sandor look at one another, then both shift their glances away from one another. Both of them blushed wildly. Sandor walked with her to their math class, she was lucky enough to have the same teacher and that their classes were on the same chapter before her classes were switched. Being that everyone was terrified of him, the seat next to him was open, and she gladly sat in it like it was her throne. Sandor chuckled at the thought, _Sansa would have made such a beautiful queen._

././.

Nothing eventful happened the rest of the day, they sat next to one another at lunch in silence. Sansa with her nose in her textbooks as she was still trying to catch up with some of her classes, and Sandor had given her some of his notes so she could copy them. At Gym, Sansa had to sit out of everything because of her stitches. She sat on the bleachers inside the gym, bored out of her mind while Sandor, Arya, Hot Pie, and Gendry were all forced to play football outside.

As Sansa groaned and shifted, trying to get comfortable on the cold metal bleacher, she noticed a male student approach her. He had a cast on his right arm, he was about as tall as Gendry, and had short brown hair with hazelnut brown eyes. He smiled to her and sat down next to her. “Hey.”

She raised her eyebrow, expecting some kind of trick or for her to be jumped by other students again. “Uh, hi?” The boy laughed softly, “I’m Harry, thought I’d introduce myself seeing that you looked as bored as I am.”

“Oh, I’m Sansa.” She smiled back, but still slightly unsure of this new boy, she never really noticed him before, he looked older than her. _Maybe he was a senior?_ “That’s a pretty name for a pretty girl.” Harry winked at her and she felt herself blushing, “Oh..Thank you…I guess.” She smiled back and then looked around the Gym, “So Sansa, I was just curious…That Clegane guy…Are you two… _Together_?”

“Together? You mean like dating?” Sansa furrowed her brows at the question, Harry nodded and licked his lips, “Well, yeah.” Sansa suddenly didn’t know what to say, she bit her bottom lip and closed her eyes, “No, we’re not dating…We’re just friends.”

“Oh good, I thought so but wasn't sure…Couldn’t imagine someone you dating someone like him.” Harry laughed and shook his head, “You deserve someone much better.” Sansa’s mind was blown away by what Harry was saying. “Do you even know Sandor?” She snapped, trying to hold back her temper. “No, but with that kind of face, what kind of girl would be interested in a freak like him.” Harry laughed pleased with what he was saying. “One ugly fucker man, only kind of girl I could imagine dating him would be desperate…And you don't seem desperate.” He cleared his throat as he finally noticed Sansa glaring at him.

“He’s my friend, and I’d rather you not talk shit about him. Especially to my face Harry, _looks mean nothing when you’re a douche bag_.” She smiled sweetly and Harry frowned, “Oh, I didn't mean any offence Sansa, honest… I hope we can still be friends.” Something about his smile bothered Sansa, it reminded her of Joffrey’s smile.

A pretty face means nothing, a pretty smile is nothing but lies.

“Uhh…” Sansa was about to let Harry know that they weren't friends; that she didn't even know him, but Arya and their group of true friends walked into the Gym. Arya frowned as she spotted Sansa sitting next to Harry, “Oi! Get down here!” Arya glared at the guy as Sansa noticed Sandor’s fierce glare towards Harry. Sansa stood up and walked down the bleachers, ignoring that Harry was following her. Sansa walked straight to Sandor and was about to hug him, but he turned away sharply. Sansa stood as she watched him walk out of the Gym, Arya raised an eyebrow, “Maybe the dude had to shit or something.”

“I hate it when that happens, everything is fine and then boom! Poop attack!” Gendry laughed and wrapped his arms around Arya’s shoulders. She elbowed him in his side because she wasn't a fan of PDA. Harry laughed at the couple, and Hot Pie looked at Sansa who was looking upset by Sandor’s sudden cold shoulder. 

Arya walked over to Sansa and shoved her in the side, “Come on, let’s head into the locker room.” She spoke softly, she knew that look in her sister’s eyes, and she hated it. It was that look where Sansa was trying to hold things together as something in her world cracked and was starting to fall apart. She also wanted get her away from this guy with the cast, he gave her an odd vibe and she didn't like the way he looked at Sansa. She hated the look he gave Sansa’s ass when she walked out of the Gym.

“If I catch you near her again I’ll fucking gut you like the pig you are.” Arya spat on the floor sneering at Harry. She didn’t know what this guy said to Sansa when she was alone, and she wasn't going to stand by and watch Sansa get hurt again by some dude with a fucking pretty face. 

Harry scoffed and laughed while looking at Gendry, “Women…I’ll never understand them.” Gendry raised his eyebrows as he watched Arya walk out of the Gym. “Sure dude…Whatever you say.”

/./.

Sansa didn’t say a word as she stood in the locker room, she smiled at Arya and nodded at her when the bell dismissed them to head home. As Sansa left the locker room, she noticed Sandor wasn’t waiting for her, Gendry was waiting with Arya with a frown on his face. “Sandor’s heading to the parking lot just so you know.”

“Oh..” Was the only thing Sansa could say as she waved them goodbye, and walked down the hall, trying to race to the parking lot. It upset her that Sandor didn’t want to wait for her, but she understood if he thought she was a burden. _Maybe he regretted his decision to drive her back and forth to school?_ She walked to the crosswalk and saw Sandor leaning against his black truck. As she crossed the street, she was panting softly trying to catch her breath, her ankle was throbbing painfully. She winced as she took a step forward to him. 

He looked up at her and growled, “Where’s your bloody pretty boy?” Sansa tilted her head, “Pretty boy? You mean Harry?” She frowned as she felt her anxiety kick in again, Sandor seemed like he wanted to argue and fight with her, but she didn’t want that. She had enough of that from last week, and all she wanted to do was go home. “Aye fucking pretty boy Harry.”

He sneered as she tried to get into his truck, he frowned as she yelped in pain from her ankle. Her yelp diminished her anger and jealousy towards her and seeing her with Harry, he shook his head and walked over to her to pick her up and lift her into Stranger. Sansa sniffed and leaned into his touch, “I don’t even know Harry…Stop acting so jealous….He seems like an ass.” She shrugged as he sighed. He pressed his forehead against her shoulder and licked his lips, “Has your ankle been bothering you all day Little Bird?”

“Kind of..Just started really hurting when I tried to catch up with you, guessed I pushed myself too hard.” Her bottom lip started to tremble but she held back her tears. Sandor moved away from her and glared at his feet. He frowned as he shook his head, closing her door as gently as he could. 

_Why do I always fuck everything up?_ He thought to himself as he walked over to his side of the truck. As he got in he saw Sansa look up at him, “You said he seemed like an ass…He say or do anything to you that upset you?” Sandor growled as he clenched his steering wheel. Sansa sighed, “Well…He didn't insult me if that’s what you’re asking....Well...Kind of...”

“Well what the fuck did he do then?” He snapped, looking at her arms, checking to see if there were any red marks on her soft skin. Sansa blushed and licked her lips, she tried to avoid his gaze as her fingers fidgeted in her lap. “Well…He…He..Um…He asked if we were _dating_..” Sandor scowled, “So? _That upset you?_ What did you say?” He chuckled.

“I said we were just friends, but then he started insulting you, said I deserved better.” She explained softly. _“Aye, you do deserve better.”_ He sighed; _he was scum, tainted, and a brute. She was a fragile little thing who needed someone who could be gentle with her and could make her happy._ Sansa shook her head, “Just because someone has a pretty face Sandor, doesn't mean they’re a nice person. I told him I didn't want to hear him talk about you like that… _Friend or boyfriend_ …I don’t want anyone to talk bad about you.” Sansa frowned and watched as a dove flew by his truck.

Sandor then felt pride swirl in his chest, he was proud of the Little Bird today; he was proud of her standing up to those girls in her own way and making friends, and he was proud that she defended him. No one had ever done that before. He grinned, _“Boyfriend?”_

She then turned bright red and gasped, “Well! You got jealous for me just talking to Harry in the first place! Why get jealous if you don’t like me?!” She then covered her mouth and then looked away, “Oh my god I’m so sorry. That slipped… _Fucking shit_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song Sansa is singing during her art class is **I'm only human by Christina Perri**
> 
> Finals are done and over with, expect updates!


	14. A Job.

Glaring at buildings they drove by, Sansa leaned her head against the cold glass window. After her outburst, Sandor just looked at her. His mouth had opened and closed, he seemed to be fighting with himself to say something to her; but in the end he turned away from her and never said anything about it. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see him clenching his jaw his right eye kept twitching.

She felt like total trash, who was she to say something like that to the one person who had been nice to her for what? Only a week? Even though he wasn't always nice to her, he wasn't completely mean to her. He treated her differently from the way he treated others, and had been there for her when she really needed someone for help or support.

Just because she had feelings for him, even if it was a simple crush, did not mean the man had the same feelings for her. For all she knew, he could just pity her or he was lonely. Or he just saw her as a friend, an annoying and needy friend.

Letting out a soft sigh, she shifted in her seat and turned her head to look at Sandor. They were only about ten minutes from her house, but she didn't want to go home. Not yet. "Hey, Sandor?"

He grunted, still not looking at her.

Feeling a twisted pang of guilt in her chest, she licked her lips and continued, "Did you want to stop off at the tattoo shop and see if they could use your help?" She asked softly, her thumb grazing against the soft skin of her pointer finger nervously.

He didn't say anything, but he raised his eyebrow. Sansa watched as his scars twitched as he frowned, she noticed as the his burned flesh shined in the light. An awful taste filled her mouth as she thought about the searing pain he went through to get such a scar. Of course she heard of rumors, but never thought that they could be the truth. Rumors after all were rumors.

_Joffrey had told her one time while they first started dating, that Sandor's bed had caught on fire when he was just a child._

_She heard from Margaery that someone splashed acid on him during a fight._

_She overheard Boros talking to a few guys at their lunch table that it was from a car accident, the car had caught on fire and Sandor had been trapped in the car, unable to escape he had been burned until someone dragged him out._

Whatever happened to him, it was a terrible experience. Something she wouldn't wish upon anyone, and wished with all of her heart that Sandor never had to go through such pain. "Where is the place?" He asked in an annoyed tone of voice, still not looking at her. She almost gasped in happiness that he spoke to her, but she slowly gave him directions to the tattoo shop.

He nodded, "That's the place? I've driven by there so many times and never gave it a second thought."

"Yeah, I've only been there a couple times...My mom doesn't really want me hanging around there." She smiled slowly, thinking about the tattoo she was saving up to get. She was going to draw the tattoo herself for the artist to just copy it onto her skin. Just a simple and small wolf's paw for her right shoulder. 

"But you go there anyways?" He asked while smirking as he made a right turn. 

"Yeah, I got my ear piercings done there....This summer I was planning on getting a tattoo." She shrugged when he shot her a surprised look. 

"You? What, like a little bird or a flower?" He asked, shifting in his seat a bit. Thinking of Sansa getting a tattoo made him a little excited.

"A wolf's paw...On my shoulder...My mom is going to kill me." She giggled but gently nipped on her bottom lip, "My father would love it though."

Sandor didn't reply to her answer as he parked beside the sidewalk. "Oh Jon's here." She spoke happily. "He likes you."

"Don't know why the fuck your family likes me so much." He grumbled as he quickly ripped off his seat belt and opened up his door to step outside. Sansa sighed but also got out of the truck. Following him inside, she watched as he glanced around the shop. She smiled as the familiar scent hit her nose and the sound of a soft buzzing noise reached her ears.

"Oi! Sansa!" Osha cried out before running to her side and giving her a warm hug. "Good to see you again lass! Jon told me about what happened." Osha scowled and turned to glare at Sandor.

"Oh, yeah..I'm fine now! It's good to see you too Osha!" Sansa smiled and then smiled up at Sandor, "This is Sandor," Sansa reached her hand out to touch his arm, "One of my best friends...Is my uncle around?" 

_Best friend? Since when?_ Sandor frowned. _Why can't I just be bloody happy about the fact that she thinks that highly of me instead of getting annoyed at her. Stupid dog._

"Yeah, yeah! He's in the back drawing up something for a customer! But seriously lass, if anyone gives you any trouble again..Let me know and I'll bloody set them straight...Even kill them." She winked and then shook Sandor's hand. "Nice to meet you Sandor, looking to get some ink?"

"Looking for work." He grunted as he nodded at Osha. She licked her lips and sighed, "Well we could use the help, but I'm not the boss around here. Follow Sansa into the back room, I'm sure she'll sweet talk her uncle into hiring you...Even if we didn't need the extra help."

Shaking his head, Sandor watched as Sansa giggled softly and blushed. She turned away from Osha and started walking into the back of the shop, greeting artists along the way. Sandor glanced at the walls and noticed all the potraits and pictures of people with tattoos. He was impressed with the artists' work, seeing how detailed some of the tattoos were. Glancing at the some guitars and skateboards on the walls, he smirked to himself, loving the decorations.

When they walked into the back hallway, Sansa knocked on a red door that was painted crimson red. "Come in." A male voice replied to her knocking.

She opened the door and slowly stepped into the dark room. Sandor followed behind her, noticing a few candles lighting the area around a work desk. "Oh, I wasn't expecting you to drop by!" Jon laughed as their uncle turned away from his work to face her and Sandor. "Sansa? What a bloody surprise!" He chuckled and stood up from his chair to give his niece a large hug. Jon walked over to Sandor and shook his hand.

"Uncle Benjen! It's so good to see you! You too Jon!" She smiled brightly, the same way she smiled towards me, Sandor thought to himself.

"Well what brings you around lass? Finally getting that tattoo?" Her uncle grinned as he sat back down, but motioned with his hand for her and Sandor to sit down on a black couch that was against the wall. "Oh no, I was actually wondering...Sandor here..." She took a deep breath as she gathered her thoughts before she spoke about Sandor looking for employment.

"I'm looking for work." The large male who was sitting beside her spoke out swiftly. "I used to work for the Lannisters, a body guard for Joffrey more or less." He shrugged, "After what Joffrey did, well planned for Sansa, I quit. Little Bird here told me that you might be needing some help around here."

Both Jon and Benjen looked at one another and then back at Sandor. Sansa was gaping at her friend, _well he sure does get straight to the point._

"Aye, Ned and Jon told me what you did to help out my niece. I suppose we Starks are in your debt...Sandor was it?" Benjen asked as he reached out his hand, Sandor leaned forward to shake Benjen's hand. "Aye. Sandor, Sandor Clegane." He nodded as Jon gave him a thumbs up sign.

"Aye, well Sandor..." Benjen glanced over to Sansa who was still gazing up at Sandor, "When can you start? We need someone to clean up the stations at the end of the day, clean up the shop and close up. On weekend you can come in and stock the tee shirts, even set up appointments in the book and answer the phones when Osha is busy." Benjen explained while Sansa turned her attention back to her uncle. She smiled brightly at her loving uncle, happy that he was giving Sandor a chance.

"I can start as soon as possible, whenever it's good for you really." Sandor sighed in relief, happy he didn't have to worry about rent, bills, or payments anymore. Sure he'd have to cut back a lot on his usual spending of video games or junk food, but money was money and he was damn happy to have a job again.

"Tomorrow then? Osha will be the one training you, show you the ropes. Monday through Saturday good?" Benjen grinned, "Oh, if you want a day off let me know in advance. Can't stand that calling in last minute shit, well unless it's an emergency." He chuckled as Sandor nodded at him.

"I understand that completely, but that sounds perfect to me." Sandor shook Benjen's hand again and Jon's, who smiled at Sansa. "Sound's great, I'll have you fill out some paper work tomorrow. Nice meeting you, oh Sansa tell your father I'll be over Sunday morning to pick up my amp from Arya. I have a gig that night and need it back."

"Of course! Thank you so much!" Sansa couldn't stop smiling as she hugged her uncle tightly, she then hugged Jon before telling them goodbye. Sandor thanked them as well before following Sansa out of Benjen's office.

Looking up at Jon, Benjen tilted his head, "So...I bet twenty bucks they'll start dating in a month."

"I bet fifty dollars that they'll go to prom together." Jon smirked and Benjen nodded, "What was up with that nick name? Little bird?" Both men chuckled, knowing the two would eventually end up together. 

././.

On the ride to Sansa's home Sandor relaxed more, with some of his money going quick towards rent and payments, he really was starting to worry about food. He forgot to ask Benjen if he was getting paid weekly or bi-weekly, but he would just ask the man tomorrow. He noticed Sansa was beaming brightly with happiness.

"Thank you." He spoke out, she turned and smiled at him, "I'm so happy you have a job..Oh, but what will we do tomorrow?" She frowned, "I have work as well...I can drive myself to school, or have Gendry take me."

Sandor shook his head, "No, I'll drop you off before I head down to the shop. Just call me or your uncle if you need anything and I'll pick you up once you get out." 

Sansa sighed and gazed up at Sandor through her lashes, "Sandor... I..... I'm really sorry for what I said earlier." She said softly.

"Look Little Bird," Sandor growled but shook his head, he wasn't the type of man to just come out and tell someone how he felt, unless he was angry. 

"I understand why you were upset, you were just worried about me after what had happened and all.... I shouldn't have drawn to such drastic conclusions of you liking me." Sansa shook her head, "I'm just really sorry."

"Don't be sorry, stop your bloody chirping." Sandor pulled into her driveway and leaned towards her. Sansa leaned forward and licked her lips slowly, "But..." She frowned.

"Stop." He rasped. "Leave it alone, leave it be. I acted like an ass, because I am an ass." His voice darkened and Sansa leaned towards him more. "You're not an ass, not to me." She shook her head. He smirked at her words and raised his hand to gently run his hand down her soft cheek. Gasping softly, she leaned into his warm touch. "I'm not a good man Little Bird, but I could keep you safe."

"You'd make me happy." Sansa smiled up at him, he frowned and pulled his hand away quickly.

"You don't know that, I could make you as miserable. I could upset you, I could anger you, I could...I could.." He growled but Sansa reached out to touch his arm, "But you would never hurt me." She spoke softly.

"No. No Little Bird, I would never hurt you." He rasped out and crashed his lips against her soft ones. She gasped at his kiss, but moaned as his tongue gently licked at her lips, begging for entrance. When she moaned, her mouth opened, letting his tongue taste her. Pulling him closer, she kissed him back. Raising her hands up to his head to run her fingers through his hair. He groaned against her touch.

As her hands trailed down his head and traced his face, he pulled away from her kiss when he felt her hand on his scar. They panted as they looked at one another, Sansa blushed and Sandor smirked as he leaned in to kiss her softly. As he pulled away he kissed her cheek, "You better go run to your nest Little Bird."

Sansa smiled softly at him and nodded, "Will you be online tonight?" She asked as she unbuckled her seat belt.

"Aye, if you will be." He grinned.

"Then I'll talk to you then." She softly spoke before she leaned in to kiss him gently. 

Sandor watched as she left his truck and walked up the driveway and onto her front porch. Before she opened her front door, she turned to look at him, smiling again she waved at him and then opened the door and vanished into her home.

_What the fuck just happened?_


	15. Are we official now?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Hey guys! What are we running?" Sansa asked cheerfully, Sandor immediately became quiet.
> 
> "I don't know, ask your boyfriend." Arya smirked as she heard Gendry sighing in the background.
> 
> "Boyfriend?" Hot Pie asked, "Who?"
> 
> "Arya... We're..." Sansa fought to argue with her sister, but she wasn't sure if her and Sandor were really together or not.
> 
> "We're not together." Sandor rasped into his mic, his voice darkened, "And I'm not going to sit here and fucking ask her out over a fucking game either wolf bitch, so don't even start with that shit."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait! I hope this chapter make sup for it! ^_^

Slowly, Sansa took off her pink colored flip flops by the front door, trying to ignore the itching sensation the stitches were causing her. Her copper colored hair cascaded down her shoulders like a waterfall, hiding her flushed face from whoever could see her from the view from the living room.

"What happened?" A stern voice asked her, Sansa held back a groan as she adjusted the strap of her purse on her shoulder.

"Nothing Arya, why?" Sansa rolled her eyes, of course she was going to be questioned the minute she walked into her home.

"You're breathing abnormally fast, your hands keep twitching, and you're hiding your face. What happened?" Arya almost snarled as she stormed over to her older sister, "Was it Joffrey? Did you see him again?"

"What? No!" Sansa turned her head, her hair flipped over her shoulder in the sudden movement, "Nothing. Happened." Sansa licked her lips as she gave her sister the look to 'shut it.'

Raising her left brown eyebrow, Arya smirked. "Something had to have happened, you're blushing."

"Arya! I am not!" Letting out a frustrated sigh, Sansa moved to walk away from her sister, and headed upstairs to her bedroom. The sound of Arya's footsteps trailed behind her, "I swear I won't tell anyone! Did you and Sandor get into a fight or something? A screaming match? I'll kill him." Arya rambled on about what her weapon of choice she would use to torture Sandor.

As the sisters entered Sansa's bedroom, Sansa sat on her bed as Arya closed the door. "So?" Arya folded her arms against her chest and glared at Sansa, "Come on! Tell me!"

"We kissed." Sansa whispered, looking as Arya's glare turned to a look of shock and surprise and then into full blown rage. "That's it, I'm going to cut his bloody balls off. Then I'll make him eat-"

"Arya! I wanted it, I liked...I liked it." Sansa giggled and smiled brightly at her sister, "Don't do anything foolish..." Sansa shrugged, "I really like him."

"Hmm, well. I guess you might need his balls later on..." Arya bit down on her bottom lip, trying to think of another punishment for Sandor, "Arya! Really? We're not even dating..." Sansa furrowed her brows, "I mean.. I don't think we are..."

"Well people can kiss, make out and fuck who ever they want, and they don't have to be dating stupid." Arya explained in a dull tone, "But I don't think Sandor wants that from you." Arya sat down next to her older sister and sighed, "He seemed cautious of you, like he doesn't want to hurt you, like he's afraid."

"Well he shouldn't be." Sansa shook her head, not seeing how Sandor could ever hurt her. The man has been there for her from day one... She just never realized it until she was away from Joffrey.

"After everything you've been through, how can you even think that? You've been through hell with Joffrey, and you're still recovering from one of that douchebag's plans to hurt you!" Arya growled and punched a nearby pillow, "It just shows that Sandor cares and he doesn't just want to get into your pants."

"For someone so young, you sure know a lot." Sansa smiled softly at her younger sister and touched her lips gently with her right hand, remembering the feel of Sandor's half ruined lips upon hers. The feeling of his lips against hers sent chills down her spine, and made every part of her skin tingle in excitement.

"I observe people, well really everyone. The way they move, the way they talk, I try to figure out their motives before they can strike. Sandor's a hard one to figure out, but.." Arya sat up and frowned, "Not really when it came to you. He couldn't hide the looks he gave you, I always caught him glancing at you with worry or looks of adornment." Licking her lips Arya continued, "And hope."

"Hope?" Sansa turned to Arya while raising her eyebrows, Arya just shrugged in response, "I don't know, you two better talk and settle things though, don't need shit getting any more weird around here." Grinning, Arya winked as she hopped of Sansa's bed and walked over to the door, opening it. "You getting online?"

"Hmm? Oh yeah. Sandor said he was going to be online. Oh! He's working with Jon now!" Sansa smiled brightly, and Arya just rolled her eyes, " _Whoopie fucking doo?_ Just get the hell online already." Arya frowned and walke dout of Sansa's room, closing the door slowly behind her. 

Sighing softly in nervousness, Sansa stood up from her bed and walked to her dresser to turn on her television. Grabbing her PlayStation controller and her mic headset, Sansa made her way back to her bed. Ignoring her hunger for an afternoon snack, Sansa put on the headset and signed onto PSN, seeing that everyone but Sandor was online.

_Maybe he's not home yet?_

Sansa frowned and took off her headset, deciding to grab a snack from downstairs before playing. As she left her room, she could hear Rickon and Bran laughing and joking downstairs as Summer and ShaggyDog barked and whined. Their mother laughed softly, and then quickly raised her voice to yell at Rickon about dropping a toad and to leave it outside.

Smiling, Sansa walked downstairs and walked into their large kitchen. Rickon was outside on the porch, watching a large toad as it hopped around. Shaggy Dog tilted his head and watched in confusion of this new creature that was in his territory. Bran was standing near the island in the kitchen, making himself a sandwich while Catelyn shivered in disgust as she watched Rickon pick up the large toad. Bran grinned at her and nodded his hello as he concentrated on how much mayo he was spreading onto the whole grain bread.

"Oh, he's going to get warts!" Catelyn shook her head but turned as she heard Sansa open up the fridge. "Hello dearie!" She smiled at her daughter, but Sansa could still see the worry in her mother's eyes, "How was your day?" 

Grabbing a plastic bottle of Lipton sweet tea, Sansa shrugged, "It was good, felt good to be back." Digging through the fridge, Sansa found what she was looking for. A small container of key lime pie yogurt. "Sandor got the job with Jon and Uncle Benjen." Closing the fridge door with her rear, Sansa ripped away the foil top and tossed it in the trash. Walking over to one of the drawers to pull out a spoon, Rickon opened up the sliding glass door and laughed like a maniac, "It peed on me Mommy!"

"Oh RIckon!" Catelyn shook her head and rushed to grab her youngest, "Come come! We need to wash that filth off of you!" Catelyn led Rickon upstairs to her and Ned's private bathroom. "It smells funny Mom...Why did he pee on me? He was my friend."

"Toads are not friends.." Catelyn sighed loudly. Bran and Sansa just looked at one another and laughed loudly. Shaggy Dog cried at the door to be let in, and Bran moved away from his master piece of a perfect sandwich to open up the door for the poor dog. "He's upstairs Shaggy." Bran nodded at the dog who seemed to understand and take off running after his young master.

"I'm glad things are getting better Sansa, I was worried about you today, we all were." Bran spoke quietly as he turned his attention back to his sandwich. Grabbing a spoon, Sansa dug into her yogurt and smiled at her younger brother, "Awh, thanks. I'm... I'm really glad things are getting better too." Finishing up her yogurt, she watched as Bran left to take his sandwhich upstairs into his room, Summer chasing after him, hoping to eat the crusts.

././.

"You're dead Hound." Arya spoke sternly into the mic, "I'm going to kill you, but first I'm going to cut you and gut you."

"What? What the fuck did I do to you?" Sandor growled into his mic as Gendry joined their group.

"Heyyy!! Whats going on?" Gendry asked cheerfully.

"This fucking mutt kissed Sansa!" Arya snarled, she then closed her eyes and counted to three, trying to keep calm, "He kissed her."

"Oh man, about time!" Gendry laughed, "This isn't fucking funny stupid!" Arya yelled at her boyfriend. _How could he support this? How could anyone support this?_

"It's not any of your business what the Little Bird and I do." Sandor snarled back, ignoring Hot Pie as he joined into their group, "Hello!"

"She's my sister! Of course it's my business!" Arya huffed, "I warned you if you hurt he, I'll be the end of you. I'll beat the living shit out of you and leave you at a bottom of a cliff, leaving you to die as you cry out for mercy."

"Wow.... That's deep." Gendry commented, Hot Pie sighed, "I swear you have problems Arya."

"I'd like to see you try you little wolf bitch." Sandor taunted her, "It would be one hell of a sight if you could pull it off." He chuckled darkly into the mic, not noticing Arya had invited Sansa into the group.

"Hey guys! What are we running?" Sansa asked cheerfully, Sandor immediately became quiet.

"I don't know, ask your boyfriend." Arya smirked as she heard Gendry sighing in the background.

"Boyfriend?" Hot Pie asked, "Who?"

"Arya... We're..." Sansa fought to argue with her sister, but she wasn't sure if her and Sandor were really together or not.

"We're not together." Sandor rasped into his mic, his voice darkened, "And I'm not going to sit here and fucking ask her out over a fucking game either wolf bitch, so don't even start with that shit." 

Laughing loudly while snorting, Arya blinked away tears, riling up the big bad Hound had to be one of her favorite past times, if he was going to date Sansa he would have to put up with any kind of bullshit she could think of.

_Just for the hell of it._

_And because the dude gave her hell as well._

"Oh," Sansa said softly, Hot Pie and Gendry didn't say anything. The group became silent, an awkward type of silent where everyone was too afraid to say anything to upset anyone. 

"Let's do the Fortress Of Solitude, Superman's base." Arya suggested, "The first one, it's not too bad.. Sansa could handle it, so could the noobs."

"Fucking hate bloody idiots," Sandor grumbled as Gendry chuckled, "I have to agree with you, sometimes they really piss me off. I mean, I understand if you're new like Sansa... But if you have people yelling at you over the mic and telling you what to do-"

"And typing in the chatbox." Hot Pie cut in.

"Right, and they still don't listen.. It's just a pain in the ass." Gendry sighed, "But queue up, let's get started."

././.

"Need heals." Sandor spoke out as they were fighting their second boss, the boss had called out a ton of ads but the other DPS's couldn't seem to burn them quick enough and kept wasting power on attacks that were useless in this type of situation.

"I'm trying." Sansa gritted her teeth as she kept holding down R2 and the Triangle button, but every time she would cast a heal, an ad would freeze her in ice and she couldn't break out. After a few seconds of waiting, the ice would break apart and the other healer, wasn't putting out enough healing to keep everyone alive.

"Holy fuck!" Gendry yelled into the mic, "This isn't that hard! Just kill the ads as the tank holds agro, let me and She_Wolf handle the boss!"

"You guys are a bunch of fucking idiots, I'm voting to kick this other DPS. Fucking pointless." Arya snarled, Sansa sighed as she read a tell from Sandor.

_'Hey, you're quiet.'_

She typed back as Arya and Gendry defeated the boss, and the loot popped up. _'Yeah these people are annoying.. Now I understand why you guys become so frustrated. Haha.'_

 _'You upset about what I said earlier? Don't lie Little Bird.'_ He sent her as they moved onto the next area, he waited to attack the ads as the rest of the group caught up.

_'Not really, I just didn't know if we... If we were together or not. But you settled that.'_

As Sandor pulled the ads across the map, Gendry and Arya attacked them, slaughtering them quickly. "This is taking too long." Arya complained, Gendry grunted in agreement as they followed Sandor into another hallway, leading into another boss fight.

 _'Didn't fucking know if you even wanted to be with me.'_ Sandor typed to her before he attacked the boss.

Sansa sighed loudly into her mic, _how could he seriously still think that?_

As she casted one of her heals and used one of her shields, she quickly typed back to him, _'Of course I want to be with you.'_

After Arya and Gendry ripped away at the boss's health, more loot dropped. Sansa squealed as she saw a piece that she needed, for stats and style. As she clicked 'Need', she bit on her lip waiting for the piece, so she could put it on.

"Our healer should get that, you already have better gear." Hot Pie told the other healer, but as the loot dropped; Sansa noticed she didn't get anything.

"Awh, what?" She asked, confused.

"Fucking other DPS needed on it and ninja looted your gear Little Bird, piece of fucking shit." Sandor snarled into the mic, starting a vote to kick the DPS, the same one Arya wanted to kick from the second boss fight.

Sansa could hear Gendry typing into his keyboard, once he finished he left a long paragraph about if anyone else ninja loots any of the gear, they'll be kicked as well.

After they finished up the raid without any other problems, Sansa felt too angry to continue playing so she decided to take a break. Which turns out, everyone else wanted one as well. Turning off her system, she fell back onto her soft bed and sighed. I thought playing a game was supposed to relieve stress, not cause it.

Blinking at her ceiling Sansa felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. Pulling her phone out and pressing it to her ear, she cleared her throat, "Hello?"

"Hey Little Bird, "A dark voice rasped from the other end, "That guy really ruffled your feathers huh?" He snickered as she giggled at his comment.

"Oh he pissed me off so much, but it's whatever." She sighed as she closed her eyes. "So..."

"Were you being serious when you said you wanted to be with me?" Sandor asked hoarsly, Sansa could detect the nervousness in his tone. She smiled slowly into her phone, "Yes Sandor, I meant it with all of my heart. I like you; I think you're cute."

"Even with this fucking face of mine?" He snarled into his phone, raising his voice.

"Even with your scars, your grey eyes, your soft lips." She licked her lips, wanting to kiss him again. "Your voice, the way you look at me, how protective you are, and how you're always there for me." Sansa explained slowly, hoping to reach out to him and help him understand that this wasn't some cruel joke or something she was faking.

_Her feelings for him were very real._

Clearing his throat; he spoke gently, "Well, would the Little Bird like like to be with this Hound then?"

Sansa grinned and sat up, "Why yes, of course." She giggled softly, "I'd love to be just your Little Bird Sandor."


End file.
